Liz Kendall Tories have 'shirked responsibility' to support people out of work

A Labour government would treat health and work as "two sides of the same coin" to help tackle the growing amount of economic inactivity, the shadow work and pensions secretary has said as Jeremy Hunt prepares to make welfare a key dividing line in this week's budget.

- Pippa Crerar

In her first interview in the role, Liz Kendall told the Guardian that while Labour wanted to make sure that "everyone who can work does", as it was the best route out of poverty, the government had "shirked" its responsibility to provide support.

While she argued that "benefits alone are not the answer", she said the Tory approach to welfare had led to a "meaner, nastier and inadequate system" that left millions struggling.

The government is expected to announce plans this week for people on incapacity support to look for work they can do from home, as well as stopping those who are unemployed but not actively looking for work from claiming free prescriptions and discounted bus travel.

Ministers have also been considering whether to put up working age benefits by the lower October inflation figure of 4.6%, potentially saving £2bn, rather than the usual September figure, which this year was 6.7%.