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A top Tory launched a furious attack on Rachel Reeves’s Budget after Labour unveiled an overhaul of the benefits system. Former work and pensions secretary Esther McVey asked how the Government’s push to get people into work was possible given an increase in business closures in the wake of tax hikes unveiled by the Chancellor last October.

Her intervention came as Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall announced £5bn of welfare cuts. The Conservative MP for Tatton said: “How precisely will these benefit cuts be realised, given this Government’s anti-business budget which has seen businesses close at the fastest rate since Labour was last in office, and of those still standing, 30% are planning to cut staff to cope with the increase in the employers’ national insurance contribution.”

Ms McVey went on: “Where are the jobs? We know Labour is the party of the magic money tree, is Labour now the party of the magic jobs tree too?”

Ms Kendall replied: “The only party that believes in magic money is members opposite, who wrote a cheque that they couldn’t pay.”

She added: “We believe good work and rights at work actually is a benefit to businesses, because the best businesses know it helps to retain people and reduce the costs of recruitment. We are overhauling our approach with employers in the DWP because only one in six ever uses a jobcentre to recruit.”

She continued that the Government hoped to have a single account manager for businesses, and jobcentres will become more embedded in communities.

An overhaul of the welfare system announced by Ms Kendall will see the assessment process for some health benefits scrapped and reform to disability benefits in a plan expected to save billions by the end of the decade.

The Work and Pensions Secretary said the current social security system is “failing the very people it is supposed to help and holding our country back”.

But some backbench Labour MPs and groups representing disabled people condemned the cuts.