Benefits for young people are to be targeted by the Chancellor as he seeks to cut £25bn from public spending, including £12bn from welfare. But Nick Clegg said it was a "monumental mistake" to make the working-age poor bear the brunt of the cuts.
Rifts at the heart of the coalition Government have been laid bare as Chancellor George Osborne set out plans for a "permanently smaller" welfare system, with a further £25 billion slashed off state spending - including £12 billion of new cuts to benefits following next year's general election.
"I can tell you today that, on the Treasury's current forecasts, £12 billion of further welfare cuts are needed in the first two years of the next Parliament," Osborne said.
"That's how to reduce the deficit without even faster cuts to Government departments, or big tax rises on people."
The occasion commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
A major easing of lockdown measures in England saw pubs, restaurants, hairdressers and cinemas opening their doors again.
The president said he was “in the process of defeating the radical left”.