The next government could face massive political and social unrest if it fails to win public support for spending cuts, Nick Clegg will warn today.
In a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research, the Liberal Democrat leader will say that a new government could be "torn to pieces" if it attempts to "ram through" spending cuts without public backing.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has forecast that non-ringfenced departments will see spending cut by 15-20 per cent.
Clegg will say: "That means there is an enormous risk ahead. In a democracy, dramatic change cannot be imposed from above or it will fail. It has to be led by a process of political engagement".
"You only have to look at the scale of industrial unrest in Greece to see that it is impossible to reduce a public deficit quickly if you do not find a way to persuade people to go along with the process.
"If we do not find a way to take the people of Britain with us on this difficult journey of deficit reduction, we will not be able to make the journey. We will instead follow Greece down the road to economic, political and social disruption.
"If a government tries to ram through major change to public spending solely through the usual Westminster combination of machismo and threats from the whips, it will not only fail, it could find itself torn to pieces."
He will argue that the Lib Dems' plan to raise the income tax threshold to £10,000, removing four million workers from tax altogether, offers a way forward.
"Tax cuts for millions will sweeten the very bitter pill of the largest fiscal contraction in modern history," he will say. "If we do not implement these changes, it will be impossible to rally people behind public sector spending cuts and any serious attempt to cut the deficit will fail."
