Immigrants who cannot speak English have no way of being a “full member” of British society, Eric Pickles has said.
Communities Secretary Mr Pickles admitted the details of such a policy had not yet been hammered out but highlighted reforms made last year to cut translation services and boost spending on English classes.
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”.
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.
“You’re artificially reducing your chances of employment if you’re not speaking English.”
The Liberal Democrat source said: “These are proposals from the Tories which haven’t been agreed in Government.”