Cameron may cut welfare benefits

London: Radical new welfare cuts targeting feckless couples — who have children and expect to live on state handouts — will be proposed by British Prime Minister David Cameron.

His bold reforms could also lead to 380,000 people under 25 being stripped of housing benefits and forced to join the growing number of young adults who still live with their parents.

In a keynote speech likely to inflame tensions with his deputy Nick Clegg, the Prime Minister will call for a debate on the welfare state, focusing on reforms to working-age benefits .

Among the ideas being considered by Cameron are:

*Scrapping most of the £1.8 billion (Dh10 billion) in housing benefits paid to 380,000 under-25s, worth an average £90 a week, forcing them to support themselves or live with their parents.

*Stopping the £70-a-week dole money for the unemployed who refuse to try hard to find work or produce a CV.

*Forcing a hardcore of workshy claimants to do community work after two years on the dole or lose all their benefits.

Well-placed sources say ministers are also taking a fresh look at plans to limit child benefit to a couple’s first three children, although Cameron is not expected to address this issue directly tomorrow.

Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday, Cameron said: “We are sending out strange signals on working, housing and families”.

He argued that some young people lived with their parents, worked hard, planned ahead and got nothing from the State, while others left home, made little effort to seek work and got a home paid for by the benefits system.

“A couple will say, ‘We are engaged, we are both living with our parents, we are trying to save before we get married and have children and be good parents’. But how does it make us feel, Mr Cameron, when we see someone who goes ahead, has the child, gets the council home, gets the help that isn t available to us?”

One is trapped in a welfare system that discourages them from working, the other is doing the right thing and getting no help.

Asked if he would take action against large families who were paid large sums in benefits, he replied: “This is a difficult area, but it is right to pose questions about it. At the moment the system encourages people not to work and have children, but we should help people to work and have children.”

His plan to axe housing benefit for the under-25s will have exemptions for special cases, such as domestic violence, but he said: “We are spending nearly £2billion on housing benefit for under-25s a fortune. We need a bigger debate about welfare and what we expect of people. The system currently sends the signal you are better off not working, or working less.”

He also favours new curbs on the Jobseeker s Allowance, demanding the unemployed do more to find work.

He said: “We aren’t even asking them, Have you got a CV ready to go?”

A small minority of hardcore workshy, an estimated 5,000 to 10,000, could be forced to take part in community work if they fail or refuse to find work or training after two years.

The Prime Minister wants to show he is committed to radical policies, but his speech could exacerbate strains with Coalition partner Clegg, whose Lib Dems oppose drastic welfare cuts.

It follows the row over plans to revive O-levels and will fuel rumours the Coalition could end long before the 2015 Election.

As leader of a political party as well as running a Coalition it’s right sometimes to make a more broad-ranging speech, said Cameron.

A government official said: “Decent folk are fed up with the increasing abuse of the welfare system. Responsible people who work damned hard, often on low incomes, to support themselves, are sick and tired of seeing others do nothing and live off the state.

“Labour threw ever greater sums of money at the problem and made it worse. If we want to encourage responsibility we have be bold enough to tackle these issues. We suspect some of those who refuse point-blank to seek work are working on the black market and claiming fraudulently.”

But a Labour source said: “It is easy for rich Tories with big houses to have grown-up children at home while they find their feet. It s different if you live in a tiny council flat and your daughter is a single mum.”

Ministers said curbs on housing benefit for the under-25s, had helped slash the welfare bill in Germany and Holland.