TAXPAYERS will be saddled with an extra £700 each year after Labour bottled welfare savings, experts have warned.
The Centre for Social Justice said sickness benefits will be £27billion more by 2030 due to the botched attempts to cut spending.
It is equivalent to a 3p cut to income tax – which Rachel Reeves is now poised to increase by 2p to plug a financial black hole.
Labour rebels forced ministers to gut a £5billion cuts package in the summer and are again resisting any disability benefit savings.
It is despite those claiming Personal Independence Payments rising by 1.3million since the pandemic, and another 800,000 set to follow by 2030.
Claims for anxiety and depression are up over threefold since 2019.
Joe Shalam, Policy Director at the Centre for Social Justice, said: “Everyone can see the system is failing.
“Abandoning proper welfare reform while costs surge is a political choice with a £27 billion bill attached.
“That bill lands on every taxpayer, and even worse, a lost generation will be stuck on benefits with no route back to work or independence. It is time for change this Budget.”
Yesterday ministers tasked former Labour Health Secretary Alan Milburn with carrying out a review into youth joblessness.
Welfare Secretary Pat McFadden said: “We cannot afford to lose a generation of young people to a life on benefits, with no work prospects and not enough hope.”
