Benefits 'to be stripped from immigrants who cannot speak English' The Mail on Sunday said the plans, which would also affect British residents who cannot speak English, have been drawn up by Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary. A Conservative source told the newspaper: "The vast majority of voters will think this idea is plain common sense. It is unreasonable to expect taxpayers to spend huge sums on translators when people should be learning to read and write English. Liam Fox, the former Defence Secretary, said: "The principle is a good one but it needs to be introduced in a way that's fair and reasonable. If it is, it will meet with general public approval. The ability to speak English is one of the most empowering tools in the labour market and we should be encouraging as many people as possible to learn it. The Mail on Sunday said there had been a series of private disagreements between Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg over the measures. However, Tory sources reportedly said they were hopeful the changes will be confirmed later this week if the Liberal Democrats can be persuaded. An unnamed official involved in the plan told the newspaper: "Cameron and Duncan Smith are very enthusiastic about it, but the Lib Dems had a wobble. They are nervous of being portrayed as being too harsh on immigrants. Keith Vaz, the Labour MP and chairman of the Commons" home affairs committee, said: "In principle, it is a good idea, but it could cost the taxpayer more because if people are refused benefit and have a genuine claim, they will sue the Government." Eric Pickles, Communities Secretary, said immigrants who cannot speak English have no way of being a "full member" of British society. He admitted the details of the proposed welfare policy had not yet been hammered out, but highlighted reforms made last year to cut translation services and boost spending on English classes. Speaking on the Sky News Mr Pickles said: "Last year I stopped translation inside the Department for Communities and Local Government and asked local authorities to do the same, but at the same time I increased the amount of money available to learn English and we have done a series of quite innovative programmes of trying to target particular groups who don't speak English to give them the gift of English. We don't know how this policy is going to be put out, but I would say this - if you're on benefit or whether you're in work, you can't be a full member of British society unless you speak English and you're artificially reducing your chances of employment if you're not speaking English. He added: "I think if you're going to live somewhere, it is beholden on you to learn the language - I was told by a bunch of ex-pats in Spain it would be a good thing if they learnt Spanish... I think it is a good thing, you need to be able to speak to your neighbour, you need to be able to follow what's going on. A senior Liberal Democrat source said the idea of cutting benefits to non-English speakers was a Tory idea not agreed by the coalition, and warned their partners should not "chase Ukip's tail via the Sunday papers." "These are proposals from the Tories which haven't been agreed in Government," he said. We will look at these proposals, but would prefer the Tories to agree policies in Government rather than chase Ukip's tail via the Sunday papers.