Universal Credit is in "full-blown crisis" after claimant numbers soared by 1.5million under Labour. Startling new figures show that 8.4million people are getting the payment, up from 6.9million when Sir Keir Starmer swept to power in July 2024.

Of the 63,000 new claimants last month, more than 25,000 are not required to work, with many having been deemed too ill. Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately branded it a "full-blown crisis with a claim form attached" and blamed Labour's tax-and-spend agenda. She fumed: "Higher taxes, more regulation, fewer jobs. Labour's bad economic choices are driving people onto welfare and passing the bill onto taxpayers."

Ms Whately said Chancellor Rachel Reeves was "killing jobs" and "piling taxes onto businesses and working people". The top Tory said only the Conservatives would get the country working again.

But the shock figures released do not include the recent lifting of the two-child benefit cap, which could result in families with six or more children being handed an extra £14,000 a year. That move would set taxpayers back £2.5billion in the first year alone.

Labour announced the cap would be lifted in the November Budget, which was branded at the time by rivals as a "Budget for Benefits Street."

But a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) spokesperson said Ms Whately's comment was "misleading" because most of the 1.5million "moved from old legacy benefits onto Universal Credit - a transition started by the previous government".

In addition, a larger percentage of the working-age population is claiming incapacity benefits. Personal Independence Payments for people claiming to suffer from anxiety have increased to £427million last year alone, according to the Mail on Sunday.

The current system allows anyone, even those in work, to claim the payment without seeing a medical professional.

A DWP spokesman added: "We're fixing the broken welfare system we inherited, rebalancing Universal Credit to tackle the perverse incentives that discourage work, while redeploying 1,000 work coaches to support thousands of sick and disabled people who were previously left without contact for years.

"We are also undertaking the biggest employment reforms in a generation, overhauling Jobcentres and working with employers to deliver our Jobs Guarantee, ensuring every young person has the chance to earn or learn."