Hostile ministers leaked child benefit plan, claims Blair aide

Tony Blair's plan to withdraw child benefit from the parents of young tearaways may have been leaked by critics who oppose it, Downing Street suggested yesterday, a highly unusual statement seen as a hint that hostile ministers may have disclosed the proposal in a deliberate attempt to undermine it.

Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Nick Brown, his Minister of State, both close allies of Gordon Brown, were said to oppose the idea. This prompted speculation among Labour MPs of a renewed power struggle between supporters of the Chancellor and Prime Minister.

Yesterday Mr Darling pointedly refused to endorse the plan after being asked eight times on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. He said it was only "one of a number of ideas we are looking at".The Prime Minister's official spokesman denied the plan had been deliberately floated in advance of Thursday's local authority elections. He added: "If it is being briefed with the idea that it will be shot down in flames, then people should think again. The Prime Minister does not shirk taking controversial decisions if they are right."

Ian Davidson, MP for Glasgow Pollok, said: "For single parents who maybe have four children, four mouths to feed, unless the Government's going to instruct them to stop feeding that child the commitment and obligation will remain and nothing will be done to address the problem."

Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative leader, said: "What we seem to be getting from the Government is a sort of short-term gimmick to get them through to Thursday. It hasn't been properly thought through. Half the Cabinet are at odds with it."

Meanwhile, Tony Blair's Government has failed under nearly every area of public life during its five years in power, according to a poll published last night. The majority of people surveyed by ICM for GMTV and the Daily Mirror were dissatisfied.