Well, well, well. It was only a fortnight ago that the government was forced to gut its own welfare reform in the face of a full-blown backbench rebellion, leaving Rachel Reeves with a £5bn black hole to cover up. And now, fresh from their self-inflicted bloody nose, the Department for Work and Pensions revealed on Tuesday that the number of people receiving Universal Credit has soared within Labour’s first year by, um, over a million.
The DWP also acknowledged that over a million recipients are foreign nationals – in the first time the immigration status of benefit claimants has been published.
7.9 million people are currently on the dole. That’s a 16 per cent increase from the 6.8 million in the dying days of the last government, with the vast majority (6.6 million) British and Irish nationals. But that’s not all: Liz Kendall’s department also acknowledged that over a million of those recipients are foreign nationals. This marks the first time the government has published figures on the immigration status of benefit claimants, which onetime Reform MP Rupert Lowe has insisted the development is a ‘huge win’ after having pushed for the move.
Now that they have been revealed, Lowe described the numbers as ‘absolute insanity’ – while his new political group, Restore Britain, slammed the revelation as ‘unaffordable, unsustainable, unacceptable’. His comments come as support for his tough talk on illegal migration picks up, with a 17th MP – Tory politician Sir John Hayes – having added his name to Lowe’s motion for the mass deportation of illegal migrants from Britain. How very curious…
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has also condemned the ‘staggering figures’ as ‘clear proof the government has lost control of our welfare system’ in a spirited TikTok video to his 43,000 followers. According to his stats, foreign nationals claiming benefits cost the British taxpayer a whopping £12bn a year. ‘Universal Credit should be reserved for UK citizens only,’ Philp fumed.
For its part, Downing Street says it ‘absolutely’ wants to see the numbers of unemployed foreign nationals claiming the benefit go down – but hasn’t yet confirmed whether it will reserve the benefit to Britain citizens. A government spokesperson said the government plans to limit foreign claimants’ eligibility for the payment by doubling the length of time it takes to apply for settled status, from five years to 10. But while Downing Street has insisted that the DWP is ‘toughening up the system’ and sorting the ‘spiralling’ benefits bill, Cabinet Secretary Liz Kendall announced a £725-a-year cash boost to individual Universal Credit claimants aged over 25 earlier this month. Talk about missing the memo, eh?
Whatever Labour says, these stats present yet another challenge to a beleaguered government struggling to get on top of their costs. Starmer certainly has his work cut out….
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