Labour and their army of lefty lawyers blocked deportation flights, sank the Rwanda plan, and voted over 130 times to keep the boats coming.
Over a million foreign nationals are now claiming benefits, racking up a £7.5 billion bill—thanks to Labour’s votes.
Now, in a stunning U-turn, Keir Starmer says he wants to slash £6 billion from the benefits bill, calling the system “unsustainable, indefensible, and unfair.” But is anyone buying it? His plans are already sparking the biggest rebellion of his premiership. And after spending years fighting Tory attempts to toughen immigration laws, does he really have the nerve to follow through? Or is this just more political posturing from a man who has always put stopping the Conservatives above securing Britain’s borders?
Over a million foreign nationals are claiming benefits in the UK, racking up a whopping £7.5 billion universal credit bill last year, according to an analysis of Government figures.
Households with at least one foreign national claimant received the staggering sum in 2023, figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) reveal.
Foreigners become eligible for universal credit on the same terms as British citizens once they get indefinite leave to remain, settled status, or refugee protection. After ten years of paying national insurance, they also qualify for a UK state pension.
A report by the Centre for Migration Control (CMC) shows that claimants from 40 nationalities are taking benefits at a higher rate per head than Brits. Three groups – Congolese, Iraqis, and Afghans – are claiming at four times the rate of UK nationals.
This bombshell comes as Starmer says he wants to push through cuts. But with his track record of blocking tough immigration policies, will he really follow through? And will his Labour MPs let him?
ASYLUM COSTS SOARING
And it doesn’t stop there. The benefits bill for foreign claimants is separate from the £5.4 billion being spent just to house and support asylum seekers stuck in a massive Home Office backlog. That figure has ballooned fivefold in just five years.
With 800,000 foreign nationals expected to receive indefinite leave to remain in the next decade, the costs are set to spiral even further.
The Conservatives and Reform are pushing for a crackdown, calling for jobless and low-paid migrants to be banned from staying in Britain permanently. They also want to extend the period before migrants can get indefinite leave from five years to ten.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp slammed the figures as “astonishing” and “unacceptable.” He fumed: “It is immoral that British taxpayers are subsidising nationals of other countries on an industrial scale. No wonder our taxes are so high!”
Philp has tabled amendments to the Borders Bill to introduce a legally binding cap on immigration numbers and raise the visa salary threshold to £38,000 across the board.
WHO IS CLAIMING WHAT?
The latest analysis is based on DWP data from 2019, when nearly one million foreign nationals were claiming benefits – a number that has only grown. That year, there were 610,000 non-EU claimants and 380,000 from EU countries. The number of Brits claiming benefits was 6.1 million.
Poland topped the list for most foreign claimants, with 89,040 people on benefits, followed by Pakistan (85,881), Bangladesh (54,589), Romania (45,727), and India (33,561). Nigeria (23,627) and Ireland (17,933) also featured prominently.
When looking at claims per 1,000 people, Congolese residents in the UK topped the chart, with 445 claimants per 1,000. Iraqis followed at 434, and Afghans at 414. Other high claim rates included Algeria (361), Eritrea (355), Syria (352), and Somalia (336).
With the average Universal Credit claim at £393.45 per month, the bill for one million foreign claimants would hit at least £4.7 billion a year. But DWP data obtained via a freedom of information request revealed that in reality, households with at least one foreign claimant received £7.6 billion in 2023.
A DWP spokesman said: “We have a duty to pay benefits to all those entitled to receive them. However, the figures highlighted refer to 2019 and can’t be used to indicate the current nationality of claimants.”
The department insisted that Universal Credit is designed to get people into work and stressed that illegal migrants without status cannot claim benefits.
Karl Williams, research director at the Centre for Policy Studies, called for urgent reform, saying: “We need a much more selective immigration system that prioritises migrants who are likely to be substantial net contributors.”
Starmer is expected to unveil new measures to cut migration this spring, including a ban on bosses who flout employment laws. Companies failing to pay the minimum wage could be blocked from hiring foreign workers for two years. Firms will also have to train British workers before turning to overseas staff.
CMC research director Rob Bates warned: “This is an unsustainable state of affairs. It is sheer folly that someone who has been here for just five years has full access to benefits that British nationals have paid into for generations.”
With costs soaring and tensions rising, all eyes are on Starmer’s next move. Will he go through with the cuts, or will Labour MPs rebel? One thing’s for sure – the benefits bill is bigger than ever, and hardworking Brits are footing the bill.
You did this, you the conservatories made it almost impossible to deport economic migrants. Time and time again you ignored the concerns of the British public and you finally paid a price, and now the British public are paying a higher price because of your failures.
We now have a PM who’s so narcissistic that no matter what the British public want, we are not going to get it. We’ve been treated to the dystopian future many had predicted.
It’s a small mercy of my failing health and advancing years that I may be spared the final blow to what was once Great Britain, and to say my farther and grandfather who fought for this country are no longer here to see the mess the political elite have made of it.
Shame on you all.