Bishop of Southwark: Vulnerable at risk from housing benefit cap

The new Bishop of Southwark warned today that "whole swathes" of vulnerable Londoners will be put at risk by government cuts.

The Rt Rev Christopher Chessun also said "these are hard times created by greed".

Bishop Chessun, 54, who will assume his role officially in the new year, said plans to cap housing benefits in April were being introduced too quickly.

He added: "In recent days our communities have had to come to terms with cuts in public spending. There are particular challenges, especially in welfare and housing, that make it critical that any changes need to be phased in over a number of years.

"There are issues of fairness. The test is how the vulnerable fare. These are hard times created by greed and there is an inevitability that there is a need for cuts at the moment. Whole swathes of society will be affected."

He said he backed David Cameron's "Big Society" but added: "The emergence of the ideas of the Big Society started before anyone realised the economic downfall was going to happen. It's unfortunate the two are being rolled out together."

The clergyman, who was Bishop of Woolwich for five years, said: "Think of the Blitz: this is an opportunity for the Church and Londoners to build a feeling of community and be there for the vulnerable."

The Archbishop of Canterbury this week criticised coalition plans to make the long-term unemployed do unpaid manual labour.