Almost every English region now receives more in benefits handouts than it brings in in personal tax, new analysis reveals.
Birmingham, which is playing host to the Conservative Party‘s conference, takes £2.54 in welfare for every £1 its residents contribute in income tax and National Insurance.
Benefits spending across Birmingham’s ten constituencies has gone over £6billion a year, and not a single one of the seats is a net contributor to the exchequer.
According to the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) think-tank, Londoners receive a relatively modest 78p in welfare for every £1 of employee tax they contribute, providing Chancellor John Healey a tax surplus of £10.8billion.
Just two regions in England receive less in welfare than they contribute in personal taxation – London and the South East.
The North East of England is the worst region in the country, taking £2.19 for every pound its workers contribute in tax, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber at £1.69.
London itself is divided, with wealthy constituencies like Chelsea and Fulham paying £1.26billion more in tax than they receive in welfare, compared to the north London seat of Edmonton and Winchmore Hill taking out £397million more than it pays in.
Across England, employees are paying £213billion in income tax and National Insurance, compared to £266.1billion of welfare spending – a gap of over £53billion.
Almost every English region now receives more in benefits handouts than it brings in in personal tax, new analysis reveals
The ASI’s chief of staff, Viggo Terling, told the Mail that the fresh figures provide yet more proof that the welfare system ‘has failed’.
‘Even in the UK’s most productive city, more than three quarters of what workers pay in income tax and National Insurance goes straight back out in welfare. London is the good news.
‘In Birmingham, every pound of employee tax is matched by two pounds fifty-four of welfare. Across England the bill outruns the revenue that pays for it by £53 billion, and only one region clearly covers its own costs.
He demanded: ‘Ministers need to get a grip on the welfare bill and restore a system that supports those in need without overwhelming the public finances.
‘That means reforming incentives so that work always pays, controlling costs, and ensuring the system is sustainable for the taxpayers funding it.’
The figures also prompted backlash from top Tory Sir James Cleverly, who is running to be London mayor, as he said it was further proof that the Labour government is using the nation’s capital as a ‘cash cow’.
Sir James said: ‘When Labour look at London, they only see a cash cow, and their welfare addiction is bleeding Londoners dry.
‘While the government refuses to tackle the ballooning welfare budget, London taxpayers will be left on the hook, and the capital will be left a poorer city for it.’
