A row over cut welfare spending in Taiwan has turned personal, with the Taichung mayor accused of taking credit for cleaning up a mess her own party created.

• Opposition lawmakers froze and cut the Presidential Office's discretionary budget, wiping out an order for 15,000 boxes of Mid-Autumn mooncakes from 37 sheltered workshops that employ disabled workers.
• Taichung Mayor Lu Shiu-yen said the Presidential Office had "abandoned" the order and that her city government would take it over.
• Lawyer Huang Di-ying called that a lie and compared her to an arsonist posing as a firefighter, since the KMT-led cuts caused the cancellation in the first place.
• KMT legislator Wong Hsiao-ling proposed the cuts, and public anger has pushed businesses and individuals to buy the mooncakes themselves to limit losses for the workshops.

Outlook: The fight over who is to blame is likely to keep escalating as public donations plug the funding gap, keeping welfare cuts a live political liability for the KMT.