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Heartless Iain Duncan Smith today claimed people thanked him for taking their benefits away.

He was accused of "losing the plot" after making a string of increasingly bizarre claims about his department's cruel benefit sanctions regime.

The Tory Work and Pensions secretary said 75% of people who have had their benefits stopped under his department's cruel sanctions regime said it helped them "focus and get on."

A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was not immediately able to back up Mr Duncan Smith's claim.

But the sister of ex-soldier David Clapson, who died starving and penniless after having his benefits stopped said: "I don't think my brother said it had helped him get on."

(Image: Daily Mirror/Phil Harris)

After hearing Mr Duncan Smith's comments, Gill Thompson said: "I think they're losing it. They're losing the plot."

In a string of jaw-dropping claims, IDS dismissed protests against benefit sanctions as "classic buzz from the left" and that protesters were "never going to vote for us. They hate us".

He dismissed protests against benefit sanctions as "classic buzz from the left" and that protesters were "never going to vote for us".

And he claimed Job Centres were "running out of people" to put back to work.

Despite a fall in overall unemployment, there are currently 1.68m people out of work in the UK.

He also claimed his department had not made any changes to the sanctions regime since coming to power in 2010, and that "no-one is sanctioned first time."

But Mr Duncan Smith presided over the introduction of tough new rules in 2012, which drastically increased the length and severity of benefit sanctions.

Under his new rules, the maximum length of sanctions went up from six months to more than three years.

In the year to March 2015, there were 587,000 sanctions of people on Jobseeker's Allowance. That's 84% higher than under Labour.

And while the DWP say sanctions are only used as a last resort, jobseekers can lose their benefits for four weeks, even for a minor first offence.

A DWP spokesman said: "Decisions on sanctions aren’t taken lightly but are an important part of our benefits system — they are only ever used as a last resort and the number of sanctions continues to fall."

Shadow Work and Pensions secretary Owen Smith said: "The Tories’ sanctions policy is as cruel as it is ineffective, but Iain Duncan Smith is blindly refusing to own up to his failings.

"Massive problems with the system have already been flagged by the government’s expert adviser and the cross-party Work and Pensions Select Committee added its voice to Labour’s call for an independent review into the system.

"Yet Iain Duncan Smith keeps refusing to agree to one, he clearly has something to hide. That is why Labour will keep up the pressure on this and demand that the system is overhauled to treat people with dignity, fairness and compassion."

Mr Duncan Smith's comments were captured in an astonishing video published by the Camden New Journal.

He was chatting to local councillor Johnny Bucknell, during a visit to London's Belsize Park to campaign for Tory Mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith.