It goes on to say a "prime consideration" continues to be the welfare of elderly and disabled people.

BBC: St Asaph floods cost council house insurers ?1m

The structure of the welfare budget suggests that serious reform must take on spending on the sick and disabled, which accounts for 24% of the total budget.

ECONOMIST: Welfare reform

Other subjects raised by backbench MPs include government funding for Cornwall, the effects of welfare reform on disabled people, their carers and families and votes for 16 and 17-year-olds.

BBC: Week ahead

In the late 1990s, when the unemployment rate tumbled to the lowest levels since the mid-1960s, employers became interested in categories of workers they usually rejected: former welfare recipients, the disabled, and so on.

CNN: Controversial immigration report may be right

The budget plan also ends guaranteed welfare for poor children, limits health care guarantees for the disabled and limits the growth of spending on Medicare.

CNN: Senate poised to pass Republican budget