Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny
Alexander has said the Conservatives proposed to "slash" child
benefit while the two parties were in government together.
Mr Alexander said he was "lifting the lid" on
plans including limiting child benefit and tax credit to two children.
He claimed his party blocked the move, which he said was
worth £8bn.
The Conservatives said they recognised none of the
proposals, which were "definitely not" party policy.
"This set of policies was never proposed or supported
by the prime minister and chancellor and would never be proposed or supported
by the prime minister and chancellor," a Conservative spokesman said.
He added: "This is desperate stuff from Liberal
Democrats who are now willing to say anything to try and get attention."
Mr Alexander said: "I'm lifting the lid on this now
because the Conservatives are trying to con the British people by keeping their
planned cuts secret until after the election."
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the Tories were
either being "reckless or deceitful" in not divulging the details of
how they would find £12bn of savings from the welfare budget.
"These are ideas that were put to me by Conservative
ministers," Mr Alexander said, but admitted "we probably did know
some of this before".
When told that the Tories had rejected the idea they were
planning these cuts, he said: "In that case they know what the plan is,
and they are not telling people."
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