By GB News (Politics) | Created at 2026-10-02 05:21:51 | Updated at 2026-10-02 06:37:55
1 hour ago
Labour constituencies have been handed three quarters of a £12billion rise in benefits spending since the General Election, new analysis has revealed.
In what will only add fuel to the Tories' warnings that Labour has turned into the "Welfare Party", the research reveals how Andy Burnham's party hoovers up an outsized share of the country's ballooning benefits bill.
The TaxPayers' Alliance has found that 72 per cent of the £12.1billion increase in total benefits since the election - or £8.8billion - went to seats represented by Labour MPs.
But Labour MPs only represent 65 per cent of English and Welsh Commons seats.
The organisation's research also revealed the top 10 constituencies with the highest splurge are all Labour-held.
Diane Abbott's Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat saw the largest increase in benefits spending at £76.6million, more than three times the constituency average.
While Labour seats scooped up more than £8billion, just £1.8billion went to Tory seats, £861million to Liberal Democrat constituencies and £165million to Reform constituencies, with the remaining £537million going to seats represented by other parties or independent MPs.
Last year, Sir Keir Starmer tried to reform welfare by restricting who was eligible for disability benefits - but caved into a rebellion from more than 100 of his backbenchers, who forced him to drop the plans.
Figures also showed the average increase in benefits spending in the welfare rebels' seats was 18 per cent higher than the average.
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately told the Mail: "Labour MPs spent the past two years fighting off every attempt to rein in the benefits bill, and it turns out the extra money has been landing in their own constituencies.
Sir Keir Starmer's attempts to reform welfare were curbed by a backbench rebellion
PA
Diane Abbott's constituency saw the largest increase in benefits spending
"Andy Burnham inherited a party that gutted its own welfare reforms rather than face down its rebels, and he has shown no more backbone than Keir Starmer did.
"Labour has become the Welfare Party, and working families are paying for it through ever higher taxes."
Writing for GB News, the TaxPayers' Alliance's campaigns director William Yarwood said Sir Keir's efforts to tackle the benefits bill showed just how hard it was to try and rein it in.
"The political problem is impossible to miss because many Labour MPs represent communities where disability benefits are particularly important, making any attempt to restrain spending politically difficult," he wrote.
"We have already seen what happens when those pressures collide with welfare reform.
"Keir Starmer’s 2025 proposals to reduce projected health and disability benefit spending encountered substantial resistance in Parliament, and ministers subsequently made concessions to the package."
Andy Burnham risks another backbench rebellion
PA
Helen Whately accused Andy Burnham of showing 'no more backbone than Keir Starmer did'
Alan Milburn, Labour's benefits tsar, yesterday called for children to be learning about different careers from an early age to prevent young people from going on the dole.
Though some universities have been caught telling students to sign up for Universal Credit the moment they graduate.
Reform's Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick said: "Labour and the Tories are the parties of welfare. We are the party of alarm clock Britain.
"We'll end the fraud and abuse of the welfare system and use that money to cut taxes for workers and protect pensions instead."
Mr Yarwood, writing for GB News, said the rapidly-expanding benefits budget raised questions around how long the system could truly last.
"The question is whether endlessly rising caseloads and costs can simply be accepted without asking whether the system remains properly targeted and financially sustainable," he said.
Disability protesters assembled outside Whitehall at the prospect of welfare reforms last year
GETTY
Robert Jenrick said both the Tories and Labour were 'the parties of welfare'
PA
"That is where Labour faces its real dilemma.
"Ministers know welfare spending is putting growing pressure on the public finances, yet many of their own MPs represent precisely the areas where reform is most politically sensitive.
"Every attempt at change therefore risks another round of rebellions, concessions and retreats.
"Labour can keep commissioning reviews and promising reform tomorrow, but the welfare bill will not politely wait for Westminster to summon the courage to deal with it."
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: "The increase in the PIP caseload has slowed under this government, falling from 400,000 in the 12 months to July 2024, to 260,000 in the 12 months to July 2026.
"We are already reforming the welfare system across the country by narrowing the gap between Universal Credit standard and health rates, restoring face-to-face assessments, and investing £3.5billion in employment support to end the culture of people being signed off and written off.
"We're putting work and opportunity at the heart of the system, and the final recommendations from the Timms and Milburn Reviews will lay the foundation for sustainable reform."
