𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Britain’s benefits bonanza has worsened since Labour swept to power, with a car scheme handing 13,000 premium motors to claimants last year.

New analysis exposes the sheer scale of the handouts, with 3.23 million people now claiming Personal Independence Payments (PIP) even as taxes sit at their highest level since WW2.

The high-end cars dolled out to claimants include Mercedes, BMWs and Audis, and four in every five PIP claimants also trouser a mobility handout worth between £30.30 and £80 a week.

Further analysis found 52,210 people were claiming PIP in April 2026 with back pain listed as their main disabling condition, the equivalent of the entire population of Torquay.

Labour has faced growing demands to slash the ballooning benefits bill, after Tory chief Kemi Badenoch branded them the “welfare party”.

Tory shadow minister Joy Morrissey told the Express her party was “for the taxpayer, not for the scrounger, not for those who just sit around – as the Labour Party is.”

She warned Andy Burnham’s party “just asked ‘who can we tax to pay for more benefits?'”

Separate analysis exposed that PIP claims have surged by nearly 10 per cent since the 2024 general election in every English constituency.

That analysis, from the Centre for Government Reform revealed that the number of people claiming had doubled in 61 council areas since Labour was handed the keys to No 10.

Benjamin Elks, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, who crunched the numbers on the car scheme and mobility handout, said: “A benefits system that pays for claimants to cruise around in flashy cars is not fit for purpose.”

He added: “The surge in mobility PIP claims, including in areas with perfectly good public transport, raises serious questions of whether all of these claims are entirely necessary. Ministers must continue their crackdown on Motability spending and review the eligibility for PIP to ensure the system is fair for the taxpayers who pick up the bill.”

Helen Whately MP fumed that the car scheme “makes a mockery of our welfare state.”

She said: “Most people want help to be there for the seriously sick and disabled. But taxpayers are being taken for a ride – funding cars for people on benefits which they cannot afford to buy themselves.”

Ms Whately added: “State-funded cars for acne and tennis elbow show just how ridiculous it’s got. And claims keep surging under Labour.”

Ameer Kotecha, of the Centre for Government Reform, said the figures proved the Government had “lost control of the welfare bill”, warning that unless the number was slashed, “Britain will stay on a downward spiral.”

Reform’s shadow chancellor, Robert Jenrick, delivered the sharpest warning of all, saying the research “shows Labour has completely lost control over the benefits bill.”

He said: “We can’t go on like this. If Burnham doesn’t act soon it will bankrupt the country.”

The Government was approached for comment.