Coalition war as top Lib-Dem demands halt to welfare cuts

A new Coalition row erupted over the Budget today as Treasury minister Danny Alexander said welfare cuts had gone far enough.

He attacked Tory ministers demanding benefit cuts instead of savings in their own departments.

“We can’t have any fiscal nimbyism,” said the senior Lib- Dem, meaning that ministers could not demand cuts elsewhere while saying, “Not in my back yard”.

On welfare, he made clear there had been enough cuts, despite Chancellor George Osborne seeking £10 billion more in savings on the social security budget.

Meanwhile, Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs, called on Mr Osborne to slash business taxes in next month’s Budget.

And the Public Accounts Committee criticised the Treasury for costly “experiments”, such as £375 billion in quantitative easing, that failed to lift the economy. The Treasury said: “In two years over a million private sector jobs have been created and the deficit cut.”