Philpott: Osborne questions state 'lifestyle subsidy' 4 April 2013 Last updated at 16:03 George Osborne - Philpott case raises questions about the welfare system Chancellor George Osborne has questioned whether the state should be paying for the lifestyles of people such as Mick Philpott. Philpott has been jailed for life after being found guilty of killing six of his children in a house fire. He has been branded a "vile product" of the benefit system by some newspapers. Asked about such claims, Mr Osborne said a debate was needed about whether the state should "subsidise lifestyles like that." Labour accused the chancellor of "cynically" trying to make political capital out of Philpott's "evil acts." Philpott was convicted of manslaughter along with his wife Mairead and friend Paul Mosley over an arson revenge plot that went wrong. He was told he would serve a minimum of 15 years in prison, while Mairead and Mosley were told they would serve at least half their 17-year sentences. Horrendous crimes Much of the coverage of the trial focused on the unemployed Philpott's lifestyle and the fact that his wife and his mistress Lisa Willis had lived with him at the three-bedroom council house with 11 of their children until Miss Willis moved out in February 2012. Why are ministers changing the welfare system? They say they want to make it fairer, to limit its cost and to make work worthwhile. Now George Osborne suggests people should ask questions about the welfare state "subsidising lifestyles" like Mick Philpott's. The government thinks the public is on their side, and believes a cap on welfare payments will be popular. Labour accuses Mr Osborne of cynicism in implicitly linking this debate with a shocking crime. The chancellor has previously complained about those who lie in "sleeping off a life on benefits." Will ministers now highlight the argument that welfare reform can - and should - change lifestyles? The prosecuting lawyer told the jury: "Michael Philpott did not want to work. He just wanted a house full of kids and the benefit money that brings. Philpott received more than £8,000 a year in child benefit for his 11 children, as well as the income support paid to his wife and mistress, which went into his bank account. After his conviction, debate has raged online over claims by some commentators that Philpott was the product of an overgenerous welfare state. AN Wilson, writing in The Daily Mail, said: "The particular manner in which his nastiness was exercised, and the way in which he lived, was the direct consequence of his being able to live scot-free at the expense of the taxpayer." Mr Osborne, who this week has been defending cuts to housing benefit and other welfare changes, said: "Philpott is responsible for these absolutely horrendous crimes and these are crimes that have shocked the nation; the courts are responsible for sentencing him. But I think there is a question for government and for society about the welfare state - and the taxpayers who pay for the welfare state - subsidising lifestyles like that, and I think that debate needs to be had. The government says it is fairer for those who work and pay taxes to reform the benefit system to encourage people to work if they can, rather than choose to live on welfare. Shocked and disgusted Mr Osborne has said suggestions the changes, which include a £26,000 a year benefit cap, marked the end of the welfare state are "shrill, headline-seeking nonsense." But critics, including church groups and the Labour Party, have accused ministers of unfairly targeting the poor with some of the new rules. Shadow work and pensions minister Stephen Timms, for Labour, said Philpott and the others convicted on Thursday were solely responsible for their "evil acts." "It is wrong to link those acts with the debate about welfare and George Osborne should not be doing so, even implicitly," he said. The government should recognise that people on benefits "are as shocked and disgusted by the callous killing of these children as anyone else in Britain," added Mr Timms. Philpott had already achieved tabloid notoriety as "Shameless Mick" and "Britain's biggest scrounger" before his trial began. In 2006 he appeared on The Jeremy Kyle Show, on ITV, to demand a bigger council house. The following year he was in a documentary with Ann Widdecombe, who was then a Conservative MP and tried to get him a job.