Cabinet feuding erupts at Tory conference over benefits curbs as Liz Truss faces Commons clash with own MPs

CABINET infighting broke out last night over benefits cash curbs as Liz Truss faces a bruising Commons showdown with her own MPs.

Open feuding erupted at the Tory party conference as the PM stepped back from disciplining her senior team over the issue.

Ministers are currently considering saving £5 billion by lifting welfare payments in line with average earnings rather than inflation.

Commons leader Penny Mordaunt said it “makes sense” for the more generous uplift as she led moves against imposing real-term cuts.

Welfare Secretary Chloe Smith, who will make the decision on benefits, said: “What we need to do, of course, is first of all protect the most vulnerable, and I think that’s critical.”

Welsh Secretary Sir Robert Buckland said: “The safety net is an important part of what a one nation conservative is all about.”

There is also major resistance on the backbenches to going back on the guarantee given by Boris Johnson’s government.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith also led calls to keep the payments to the lowest income families in line with inflation.

However, Home Secretary Suella Braverman told delegates that people needed to have more incentives to get back into work and hit out at the “benefit-street culture”

Chloe Smith is unlikely to make a decision on the issue for at least a fortnight as she conducts a review.

She will await September’s inflation figures due at the end of the month with the increase coming next April.

A senior government source said MPs would vote on the matter if the rise isn’t in line with inflation.

The Prime Minister has refused to give a cast-iron guarantee to uprate benefits with prices.

But pensions will be protected by the so-called triple lock.

In an interview with Talk TV, she said: “We have made certain commitments, but we are going to have to look at things differently as we go forward.”