We are closing the live blog now. The main developments from today were as follows:
The Secretary of State for Wales, Stephen Crabb, was appointed the new work and pensions secretary.Alun Cairns MP became Secretary of State for Wales and Guto Bebb MP became a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Wales Office and a Government Whip (Junior Lord of the Treasury). (See 10.29am)
Stephen Crabb has been appointed Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions.
Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin, known to be close to Duncan Smith, said proposed cuts to disability benefits in the Budget were the “last straw” for the former work and pensions secretary, and that the resignation was not about him but “young people and disabled people”. He added that Osborne’s “high-handed and short-termist political approach” had tested the patience of more than one minister. (See 9.07am).
Baroness Phillipa Stroud, who worked with Duncan Smith for five years and is now executive director of the Centre for Social Justice, which Duncan Smith founded, said he quit because he felt Osborne’s budget hit the poor while giving tax incentives to the middle classes. She said the resignation should be viewed as a clarion call and had nothing to do with the timing of the EU referendum. (See 9.48am).
Frank Field, the Labour former welfare minister who now chairs the Commons work and pensions secretary, said that he had spoken to Duncan Smith a couple of times while MPs were voting in recent days and picked up no sense that he was on the point of quitting. “I think at this point Iain thinks that the social contract, which is very important between generations and at protecting the future generation, was broken,” he said. (See 10.09am).
Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, said he was “disappointed” by Duncan Smith’s decision to quit, and that it was “a puzzle”. He claimed it was “not necessarily the case” that disabled people would lose out from the cuts to the Personal Independent Payment (PIP). (See 10.16am)
Commons Leader Chris Grayling said he is “surprised”, “disappointed” and “very sorry” to see Duncan Smith resign, but that he didn’t think it made any difference to the EU referendum campaign. “This is not about Europe,” he emphasised. (See 14.28pm).
Former Conservative leadership contender David Davis said Duncan Smith’s departure is a “tragedy” that will weaken the government. (See 15.30pm).
In the Labour corner, Jeremy Corbyn said Duncan Smith had “done the right thing” by resigning but that it was a wonder “where his conscience has been hiding for the past six years.” The Labour leader said the first thing Crabb has got to do is “guarantee a complete reinstatement of PIPs and reinstatement of the independent living fund, and an examination of the appalling way in which people with disabilities go through this availability-for-work tests.” (See 12.40pm).
John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, called for “urgent rethinking of Osborne’s failing economic policy”. He said the chancellor’s cuts “are a needless attempt to meet his own nonsensical fiscal rules.” (See 11.56am).
And more than 145,000 people have signed an emergency 38 Degrees petition in the last 24 hours calling for PIP cuts to be cancelled. (See 13.13pm).
That’s all from me, but you can continue to leave your comments below the line. Thanks for reading.
David Davis says Duncan Smith departure is a 'tragedy'
Conservative MP David Davis has said Duncan Smith’s departure is a “tragedy” that will weaken the government.
Davis, once a Conservative leadership contender, said the disagreements between Osborne and Duncan Smith were “long-standing” and that the pressure Duncan Smith to introduce cuts “got in the way” of reforming welfare.
“This is a big big decision for him,” he said. “It’s the end of his career doing what he wanted to do…he’s had to bring himself to do it because enough is enough.”
He said it was “clearly an unhappy outcome” for the Conservative Party, the Treasury and government, adding: “It’s not the first time – we’ve now had tax credits ... and as a result [Osborne’s] going to have to find this money somewhere else.”
David Davis tells @bbcnews the departure of Iain Duncan Smith is "a tragedy" that will weaken the government.
An online petition calling on Stephen Crabbs to resign as patron of Mencap Pembrokeshire has been signed by more than 4000 people.
The petition is a result of Crabb’s vote to cut ESA by £30 a week.
Jim Scott, a member of the People’s Assembly Against Austerity, told Buzzfeed he believed the petition he set up had become “massively more significant” in light of Crabb’s promotion.
Chris Grayling says Duncan Smith resignation 'not about Europe'
Commons Leader Chris Grayling has told the BBC he is “surprised”, “disappointed” and “very sorry” to see Duncan Smith resign. “He’ll be much missed in cabinet, he’s done some really good work on welfare reform over the years”, he said.
Asked if Duncan Smith’s resignation was really about Europe, Grayling, who is also campaigning for a Brexit, said:
I don’t think this makes any difference at all to the referendum campaign. This is not about Europe.
Green Party leader Natalie Bennett has said it is too late for Duncan Smith “to paint himself as a champion of the disabled”, adding that it is successive governments that are to blame for young people having to pay for bankers’ failures.
Iain Duncan Smith correctly observed in his resignation letter that the government’s fiscal approach is increasingly regarded as an ideological-driven dead end even in the Tory Party, but it is far too late for this former Tory leader to paint himself as a champion of the disabled when he has presided for so long over a welfare regime that has left disabled and ill people in dire poverty and desperate fear.
Iain Duncan Smith is right to identify the way in which young people have been made to pay for the greed and fraud of the bankers, but he is wrong to blame a whole generation of their elders.
Britain’s state pension is among the lowest in Western Europe, 16% of pensioners live in poverty. The problem lies with the decisions of successive governments to allow rich individuals to accumulate a larger share of the nation’s wealth, while multinational companies have become parasites failing to pay their way with taxes or decent wages and benefitting from wholesale privatisation of public assets.
In a sign of growing public opposition to cuts to disability benefits, more than 145,000 people have signed an emergency 38 Degrees petition in the last 24 hours calling for PIP cuts to be cancelled. Adam McNicholas, media campaigns manager at 38 Degrees, said prolonging uncertainty over cuts was “cruel and unjust”.
The political circus surrounding the resignation of Iain Duncan Smith should not overshadow the reality facing people who rely on this critical safety net.
This policy hasn’t yet been killed off - so the ongoing uncertainty for people who need Personal Independence Payment goes on.
The British people have called for compassion - they’ve said it’s not good enough for the government to make excuses and kick this issue into the long grass. Prolonging the uncertainty is cruel and unjust. It’s time to bin this policy and this should be the first decision of the incoming secretary of state.
This petition shows the huge outpouring of public opposition to these cuts in support for people living with disabilities.
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