We cannot afford to spend billions on migrant benefits

IN BRITAIN today, most people work hard, pay their ever-increasing taxes, and try to do the right thing.

- Katie Lam MP

In return, they're told there’s no money. No money to make sure our public services work as they’re supposed to. No money to help pensioners to heat their homes in the winter.

But the truth is that billions of pounds every year are being spent on welfare for migrants, many of whom have never contributed and likely never will.

Take universal credit. It’s supposed to be a safety net for Britons who fall on hard times and a way to help people back into work. We are a generous country and most people want to help those in need.

But today there are 1.3 million foreign nationals receiving universal credit at the expense of the British taxpayer. That means one in every six people taking it is not a Briton. The majority of those foreign nationals aren’t even working. They're taking out of the system without paying in, and many will have no history of contribution whatsoever.

If we assume those people are getting the basic adult rate of universal credit, this amounts to a bill of over £6billion a year — enough to train and hire more than 60,000 new NHS nurses and more than we spend on the entire prison system.