Fears among senior Liberal Democrats about the coalition with the Tories were brought into the open yesterday as Simon Hughes, the party's newly elected deputy leader, raised the prospect of tabling rebel amendments to the finance bill.
Hughes issued a blunt warning to the Tories that the government would break up if key pensioner benefits in the coalition agreement were cut. He launched the most significant intervention since the formation of the coalition in the debate that followed George Osborne's emergency budget on Tuesday when the chancellor of the exchequer said that welfare would bear the brunt of cuts.