Cut benefits cap to £20,000, say Tories Members of Free Enterprise Group of Conservative MPs issue unanimous call for welfare cap to be reduced from current level, £26,000 Group said it would help raise cash to pay for middle-class tax cuts Tory MP Brooks Newmark said the benefits cap should be reduced to the value of the average £26,000 salary after tax - equal to just over £20,000 No one should be allowed to claim more than £20,000 a year in benefits, an influential group of Tory MPs said yesterday. Members of the Free Enterprise Group of Conservative MPs issued a unanimous call for the flagship welfare cap to be reduced from its current level of £26,000. MPs said it would help raise cash to pay for middle-class tax cuts, as well as sending out a powerful message that the unemployed should not be able to live a comfortable life on benefits. Tory MP Brooks Newmark said the cap should be reduced to the value of the average £26,000 salary after tax - equal to just over £20,000. Mr Newmark said: "Many hard-working people in my constituency do not understand why we have a welfare cap that allows people to get £26,000 effectively post-tax. That is equal to an income of £35,000 pre-tax. If we want tax cuts elsewhere we should lower the welfare cap to something more reasonable. For people who are fit and able to work they should be able to get no more than the equivalent of £26,000 post-tax. Fellow Tory David Ruffley said private polling conducted on behalf of Number 10 showed that the benefit cap was supported by about 80 per cent of the public. But he said 80 per cent of those backing it also thought it was too high. Mr Ruffley said: "Most people think it is way too high - we should cut it to £20,000." The Free Enterprise Group, whose members include a number of rising Tory stars, was founded by education minister Elizabeth Truss and is backed by a number of other senior figures, including Treasury minister Sajid Javid and business minister Matthew Hancock. The call came as the group urged George Osborne to bring forward a string of tax cuts to ease the pressure on middle class families and small businesses. The Free Enterprise Group also wants the starting point for paying 40 per cent tax to be raised to £50,000 MPs said the Government had gone far enough on raising the personal allowance for basic rate taxpayers and should now target measures at helping those on middle incomes. Tory MP Dominic Raab said: "We've done a good job lifting the lowest paid out of tax, but the middle classes have been hit for six.' Proposals included scrapping stamp duty on all homes worth less than £500,000, abolishing Air Passenger Duty and getting rid of so-called "green taxes" costing almost £3 billion a year. The group also wants the starting point for paying 40 per cent tax to be raised from £41,450 to £50,000. The group was founded by education minister Elizabeth Truss and is backed by a number of other senior figures The proposals highlight Coalition tensions with the Liberal Democrats, who want to focus resources on further increases in the personal tax allowance. However, the group sparked controversy by calling for the introduction of a single rate of VAT at 15 per cent. Tory MP Kwasi Kwarteng, who devised the proposal, said it would lead to a fall in the price of most goods and services which currently attract VAT at 20 per cent. But he acknowledged it would also mean an increase in VAT on domestic fuel from eight per cent to 15, along with the introduction of VAT on food and children's clothes, which are currently zero-rated. Mr Kwarteng said: "It would be controversial to abolish zero-rate VAT, but in the round consumers would benefit greatly." He said the Government should have stood firm against the "schoolboyish" campaign last year against Mr Osborne's bid to put VAT on hot pasties. But, speaking at the launch of a policy paper yesterday, Mr Newmark issued a warning over the plan, describing it as politically "toxic." Labour said the "shocking" proposal would heap costs on millions of families and raise average energy bills by £120 a year.