Iain Duncan Smith mounts scathing attack on Government in first interview since dramatic resignation

Iain Duncan Smith today delivered a devastating attack on the Government in his first interview since he dramatically resigned over cuts to disability benefits.

The former work and pensions secretary accused David Cameron and George Osborne of seeking to balance the books on the backs of hard-pressed working people and suggested people on benefits were being targeted because "they don't vote for us".

He also branded the Chancellor's cap on welfare spending "arbitrary" and warned that the deficit was being eradicated in the wrong way.

The intervention, in an interview on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, came as Tory infighting threatened to spiral out of control.

The former Conservative leader insisted his decision to quit was not "personal", and had nothing to do with the EU referendum where he is backing Brexit.

He said he felt increasingly "isolated" in government during the drive to eradicate the deficit, and his position had become "impossible" as he was forced to finalise deep cuts to Personal Independence Payments.

Mr Duncan Smith said he finally chose to resign after realising the £12.3 million of disability cuts were offset with tax cuts.

He said: "I am concerned that this government that I want to succeed is not actually able to do the kind of things that it should because it has become too focused on narrowly getting the deficit down without being able to say where that should fall other than simply on those who I think progressively can less afford to have that fall on them.

"The truth is yes we need to get the deficit down but we need to make sure we widen the scope of where we look to get that deficit down and not just narrow it down on working age benefits

"Because otherwise it just looks like we see this as a pot of money, that it doesn't matter because they don't vote for us."

Asked why he decided to go even though the Treasury had signalled a last-minute climbdown on the PIP issue, Mr Duncan Smith said the department would still have been forced to find equivalent savings.

Additional reporting by PA