UKIP’s foreign benefit claim fear

FOREIGNERS are entitled to claim benefits in Britain, according to a Yorkshire politician.

Godfrey Bloom believes a legal change gives millions of eastern Europeans the right to take jobseeker’s allowance, housing benefit and council tax benefit.

The United Kingdom Independence Party Euro-MP for Yorkshire said: “The working populations of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia now have the right to draw benefits in the UK on the same basis as UK citizens.

“We are talking about a combined population of over 74 million people.

“Thanks to a European Union ruling and the impotence of our own Government, these people are now entitled to claim benefits.

“We know that a week’s unemployment benefit in the UK is worth more than a weekly wage for many in countries like Hungary.

“What steps will the government be taking to protect our taxpayers from this benefit bonanza, which is potentially disastrous for our budget at a time when the British people are facing cutbacks and austerity?”