People who already have a job “should be working”, a top Tory has moaned.
Suella Braverman made the eyebrow-raising complaint about Brits who have their low pay topped up by the welfare state.
The Home Secretary pointed to claimants - including 41% of those on Universal Credit - who already have a job, but are eligible for benefits because they are poorly paid.
She told a Tory conference fringe event hosted by the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday that she “wanted to cut welfare spending".
She added:: “We have far too many people in this country who are fit to work, who are able to work, and should be working. And they choose - they choose to top up their salaries with tax credits."
The remarks raised eyebrows online. One Twitter user, Capel Lofft, said: “In the fantasy land that senior Tories inhabit, the country is full of layabouts who live in luxury. The reality is that many benefit claimants work but get paid wages so low they can't pay the rent or basically live. Tax credits subsidise poverty wages.”
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “This week we’ve seen clueless Tories go from crashing the economy and forcing up the price of mortgages for hard working families to now threatening cuts to vital support for working parents, disabled people and poorer pensioners - all to pay for Tory economic failure.
“Liz Truss must reverse her disastrous kamikaze budget.”
Echoing hardline remarks she made in the Tory leadership race, Ms Braverman complained there was a “Benefits Street culture” - named for the infamous 2014 Channel 4 documentary.
She said: “The Benefits Street culture I think is a feature of modern Britain.
“I think that culture does exist - in my constituency in Fareham, I’ve got people here, local councillors and they will confirm that even in Fareham in sunny leafy Fareham, there are pockets of communities where families have known nothing else but welfare.”
It comes as Liz Truss considers raising benefits only by earnings of around 5% instead of inflation of up to 10% in April.
The Resolution Foundation said the real-terms cut would leave a single adult £391 worse off, a single parent of one £607 worse off, and a working family with two children £1,061 worse off next year.
A long line-up of Tories have demanded a welfare rise with inflation - ranging from right-wingers Esther McVey and Lord Frost, to centre-right Damian Green, Mel Stride and Michael Gove.
“The Government shouldn't take on battles it can't win,” said Lord Frost.
Serving Cabinet ministers Penny Mordaunt and Robert Buckland urged a rise with inflation - and more raised fears in private, a No10 insider said.
The insider added: “The policy is… dynamic”.
Meanwhile, Tory ministers are preparing another sanctions crackdown on benefit claimants in the wake of the mini-Budget.
The statement confirmed plans to force another 120,000 Universal Credit claimants who already work part-time to seek extra hours from January.
On top of that change for part-time workers, the government will “strengthen the sanctions regime to set clear work expectations in return for receiving Universal Credit .”
These will include “applying for jobs, attending interviews or increasing the hours” people work.
It was not immediately clear what this would mean, and it’s understood officials are still working on how it will translate into action.
People on Universal Credit already have to agree a personalised “claimant commitment” in exchange for their benefits - and it already includes making a work search “your full-time focus”.
But sources indicated the rules could be toughened up further.
A government source said the language in the mini-Budget was designed as a “signal” that conditions will be tightened to get “as many people into work as possible”.
People who do not follow the rules will face a benefit sanction.
