Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is worried about a new 'bureaucratic class' (Image: Getty)
Britain is in the grip of a “culture of dependency” with more than half of people reliant on the country’s creaking state for their livelihood, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has warned. A new report claims 52.1% of adults rely “in some way” on the state. This includes public sector employees, students, pensioners, people on Universal Credit and human resources and planning staff who spend their days working on Government-created red tape.
Mrs Badenoch warned that a “bureaucratic class” has emerged in Britain and this is holding back growth. The findings – from the Adam Smith Institute – come just days before the state of the national finances will be laid bare when Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers her Spring Statement. The think tank warns the “state has made huge spending commitments” and the Government “may have to hike our taxes even higher to pay for them”.
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Mrs Badenoch called for a “rewiring of the state”, saying: “A culture of dependency has developed that goes beyond welfare to a bureaucratic class with so many talented people working in the unproductive parts of the public sector and working on compliance with government regulations in the private sector. An increasing reliance on state subsidy and regulation is holding back enterprise and growth.”
The Tory leader said the research made the case for “fundamental reforms that will redirect the talents of the British people – away from stifling bureaucracy and into innovative and productive work”.
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The research does not take into account people in the private sector working on Government-subsidised projects, such as green energy. The Adam Smith Institute claims the true number of Britons whose rely on the state for the incomes may be “much higher”.
The think tank claims the Government warns that the private sector is being “stifled” by red tape and “anti-business taxes” such as the coming hike in employers’ National Insurance contributions. If fewer jobs are created, it warns, “more and more Brits will have to rely on the state”.
Sam Bidwell, of the Adam Smith Institute, said Britain must “wake up to the fact that an ever-shrinking pool of taxpayers is having to prop up the Government’s vast spending commitments”.
He warned: “This is completely unsustainable.”
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John Longworth, chairman of the Independent Business Network, said: “Britain is verging on becoming a communist state, with Government playing an ever greater part, sucking the life out of the economy and making us all poorer. It also gives the state more power.
“This report identifies that a dwindling number of people are working hard and producing wealth to support a growing number of the idle or subsidised. [This is] unsustainable; this will lead to economic collapse.”
The Department for Work and Pensions was invited to comment.