Chancellor George Osborne has signalled a renewed crackdown on the "out of control" welfare budget - announcing further cuts of £4 billion would be made in the spending review this autumn.
The move is on top of an £11 billion reduction made in June's Budget and Mr Osborne said he wanted to tackle those who saw claiming out-of-work benefits as a "lifestyle choice".
But he failed to rule out changes to more sensitive help such as the winter fuel allowance and came under immediate fire from two Liberal Democrat MPs who pledged to oppose the fresh assault. Bob Russell and Mike Hancock accused the Chancellor of failing to consult the Tories' coalition partners and criticised his decision to announce the fresh assault in a television interview.
Mr Osborne used a BBC interview to confirm that further reductions in benefits would form part of his package of severe cuts to public spending to be unveiled on October 20.
"There are five million people living on permanent out-of-work benefits. That is a tragedy for them and fiscally unsustainable for us as a country - we can't afford it any more," he added. "Of course, people who are disabled, people who are vulnerable, people who need protection will get our protection, and more. But people who think it's a lifestyle choice to just sit on out-of-work benefits - that lifestyle choice is going to come to an end. The money won't be there."
Mr Osborne would not be drawn on exactly where the axe would also fall amid concerns universal benefits such as the winter fuel payment and child benefit could be targeted. David Cameron repeatedly rejected Labour claims during the general election campaign that his party would cut benefits for older people as "lies" and the coalition agreement contained a pledge to "protect key benefits for older people such as the winter fuel payment" but did not rule out reforming them.
Pressed on whether they would be protected, Mr Osborne said: "We will honour the agreements we set out which said we were going to protect key benefits for elderly people. We will stick with what we've promised people,"
Mr Hancock said a further £4 billion cut would go "right to the heart" of the benefits system and hit the poorest - and joined Mr Russell in saying he would vote against any such measure.
"I didn't get elected to punish the poor and the less well off," he told BBC Radio 4's PM. "It is OK for George Osborne to talk about the unemployed lifestyle etc but that is not going to save £4 billion. This will go right to the heart of the benefits system. This is really going hard at it with a sledgehammer. He has got a lot of questions to answer. We need to know where the rest is coming from."
Their party leader, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, earlier sought to calm public fears over deep spending cuts but admitted the coalition was likely to suffer a bitter backlash.He appeared to soften the Government's rhetoric by stressing that departmental reductions of up to 25% would be staggered over four years and said that although people were understandably anxious, they should not feel there was a "sword of Damocles" that would fall overnight.
Chancellor George Osborne has signalled a renewed crackdown on the "out of control" welfare budget - announcing further cuts of £4 billion would be made in the spending review this autumn.
The move is on top of an £11 billion reduction made in June's Budget and Mr Osborne said he wanted to tackle those who saw claiming out-of-work benefits as a "lifestyle choice".
But he failed to rule out changes to more sensitive help such as the winter fuel allowance and came under immediate fire from two Liberal Democrat MPs who pledged to oppose the fresh assault. Bob Russell and Mike Hancock accused the Chancellor of failing to consult the Tories' coalition partners and criticised his decision to announce the fresh assault in a television interview.
Mr Osborne used a BBC interview to confirm that further reductions in benefits would form part of his package of severe cuts to public spending to be unveiled on October 20.
"There are five million people living on permanent out-of-work benefits. That is a tragedy for them and fiscally unsustainable for us as a country - we can't afford it any more," he added. "Of course, people who are disabled, people who are vulnerable, people who need protection will get our protection, and more. But people who think it's a lifestyle choice to just sit on out-of-work benefits - that lifestyle choice is going to come to an end. The money won't be there."
Mr Osborne would not be drawn on exactly where the axe would also fall amid concerns universal benefits such as the winter fuel payment and child benefit could be targeted. David Cameron repeatedly rejected Labour claims during the general election campaign that his party would cut benefits for older people as "lies" and the coalition agreement contained a pledge to "protect key benefits for older people such as the winter fuel payment" but did not rule out reforming them.
Pressed on whether they would be protected, Mr Osborne said: "We will honour the agreements we set out which said we were going to protect key benefits for elderly people. We will stick with what we've promised people,"
Mr Hancock said a further £4 billion cut would go "right to the heart" of the benefits system and hit the poorest - and joined Mr Russell in saying he would vote against any such measure.
"I didn't get elected to punish the poor and the less well off," he told BBC Radio 4's PM. "It is OK for George Osborne to talk about the unemployed lifestyle etc but that is not going to save £4 billion. This will go right to the heart of the benefits system. This is really going hard at it with a sledgehammer. He has got a lot of questions to answer. We need to know where the rest is coming from."
Their party leader, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, earlier sought to calm public fears over deep spending cuts but admitted the coalition was likely to suffer a bitter backlash.He appeared to soften the Government's rhetoric by stressing that departmental reductions of up to 25% would be staggered over four years and said that although people were understandably anxious, they should not feel there was a "sword of Damocles" that would fall overnight.