DAVID CAMERON put 40,000 of Britain’s poorest families on notice yesterday with plans to raid their pockets again “within days” of a general election win.

The Tory PM said slashing the benefit cap from £26,000-a-year per family to £23,000 would be among his first priorities if he clings to power in May.

He described his cap as a “basic issue of fairness” — but campaigners said it moved Britain a step closer to a “child poverty crisis.”

“I don’t think a family should be able to get more in benefits than someone going out to work,” Mr Cameron told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“One the criticisms of the cap set at £26,000, which I have heard all over the country, is that the cap was set too high. We’re responding to that.”

With 100 days to go until polling day, the PM’s announcement set the tone for the Tory campaign.

It coincided with an expert analysis revealing that government benefit and tax policies have robbed the poor to give to the rich.

Services for families with children under five have already been cut by a quarter, according to a London School of Economics study.

Families already affected by the cap will lose up to another £60 under the new cap, while families hit for the first time will lose between £40 or £25 every week.

Child Poverty Action Group chief executive Alison Garnham said the benefit cap is already nine times more likely to affect children than adults.

And she warned: “Britain is facing a looming child poverty crisis; lowering the benefit cap would bring it several steps closer.

“It would pile on the misery for working and non-working families already struggling to pay for absolute basics.

“Rather than taking away money from the poorest, politicians of all parties need to tackle the root causes of higher social security spending, which include soaring childcare and housing costs and low pay.”

Mr Cameron also announced cuts to strip 18 to 21-year-olds of housing and jobseekers’ benefit in a bid to save £120 million.

LSE experts pointed out that the Tory war on welfare had failed to wipe out the deficit because cuts savings were cancelled out by tax cuts for the richest.

Luke James is the Morning Star’s parliamentary reporter.