Labour has been faced with fury over how much benefits money is being given to foreign nationals. The leader of Restore Britain, Rupert Lowe, claimed in the House of Commons on April 27 that a "staggering" £10.1billion of the £61.2billion spent on universal credit in 2024 was "gifted to foreign nationals".

Data released in 2025 suggested that 83.6% of those on UC as of June that year were British and Irish nationals, and those who live or work in the UK without any restrictions on their immigration status. People with EU Settlement Scheme settled status accounted for 9.7% (770,379), and 2.7% (211,090) had indefinite leave to remain in Britain. Refugees accounted for 1.5% (118,749), and 0.7% (54,156) were individuals who had come by safe and legal humanitarian routes, including via resettlement schemes for Ukrainians and Afghans.

Meanwhile, 75,267 people, 1% of the total, had limited leave to remain in the UK, and 65,346 people were no longer receiving UC payments or had no recorded immigration status.

Mr Lowe added: "Does the Minister agree that the solution is really quite straightforward? We should ban all foreigners from claiming any benefits, remove from our country those migrants incapable of financially supporting themselves and hand that money back to the tax-paying British men and women who are actually keeping our economy running?

Andrew Western, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said in reply: "I fundamentally disagree with the perspective of the honourable Gentleman on people who have been here for years, made a contribution and paid their taxes, and then require some help back from a state that they have paid into, sometimes for decades."

He then claimed that the figure cited by Mr Lowe was "a complete conflation and a significant overestimation", and that a number of those receiving the cash could be British or Irish.

Mr Western said: "He shows his ignorance if he does not understand that it is impossible to suggest that that money has all been paid directly to foreign nationals because the figure that he uses is drawn from the total number of households with a foreign national in them, and many of the individual claimants could in fact be British or Irish citizens."