Labour admits 200,000 UK families pocket more in benefits than the average working Briton earns

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The shocking admission comes just days after Labour was branded 'the Welfare Party' at the despatch box

Labour has admitted that 200,000 families in Britain rake in more in benefits per year than the average hard-working Briton.

With taxpayers already forced to pay up for migrant housing, councils tearing down the nation's flag, WFH civil servants' heating bills and more, it has now emerged that they are also funding above-average lifestyles in Britain.

Just days ago, Lord Truscott challenged Labour to reveal exactly how many benefit recipients "earn" more than the national average wage.

For the financial year ending 2025, she said, there were 200,000 families in the UK who claimed more than £39,039 in "state support".

This includes tax credits and all benefits, including Universal Credit, the state pension and Personal Independence Payment (Pip).

That's more than the entire population of Bournemouth, Peterborough, or Bolton.

"Our welfare system is so out of touch it pays those on benefits more than those who go out to work," Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately told The Sun.

"Every pound paid above the wage of the average worker is a signal by Labour that effort is optional.

"A welfare system should act like a trampoline - cushioning your fall and propelling you back on to your feet.

"Under Labour, it has become a net that engulfs you and makes it almost impossible to climb out."

The shocking data follows the Prime Minister's admission at PMQs this week that national security could not "come at the expense of social security" - despite rising threats to Britain.

This week alone, new fronts are opening up in the Middle East while the head of MI5 urged leaders to "build defences" against threats like Islamic terror, Russia and China.

BRITAIN'S BENEFITS BILL - READ MORE:

But Andy Burnham defended how taxpayers are made to pay five times more for benefits and welfare than for the defence of the nation.

Last year, the UK spent just £62billion on its core defence budget, covering the nuclear deterrent, all branches of the Armed Forces and more.

Taxpayers were made to pay out £334billion for welfare in the same time.

"Yes, we do everything to support our national security - but it cannot come at the expense of social security," he thundered in the Commons.

"This side of the House will not be forced to choose between the two," he told Kemi Badenoch.

But the Tory leader accused him of saying "the quiet part out loud".

"The Labour Party has become the Welfare Party," she wrote in the Mail. "The first duty of Government is defence of the country, not paying more benefits."

Labour's Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden has in the past openly admitted how "every meeting I have is 'who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others'".

Though in response to criticism of Baroness Sherlock's reveal, the DWP said it was pushing to "end the culture of people being signed off and written off".

"Last year, the amount of people receiving awards over £30,000 was under two per cent of the total," a spokesman said. "We're reforming welfare to end the culture of people being signed off and written off."