Theresa May has reacted to new figures, obtained by the Conservatives, revealing that Labour have paid out £4.8 billion in disability and sickness benefits to drug and alcohol addicts since 1997.
"These figures expose the true cost of Labour’s failure to tackle benefit dependency", said May.
The annual cost of paying out Incapacity Benefits to addicts as almost doubled from £243 million in 1997-98 to £447 million in 2008-09.
Labour has paid out a further £420 million in Disability Living Allowance to addicts over the past twelve years. The annual cost of paying IB and DLA to addicts now totals over half a billion pounds.
Previous research by the Conservatives has revealed that the number of people claiming Incapacity Benefits for drug or alcohol abuse has doubled under Labour. The number of people claiming Disability Living Allowance for drug or alcohol abuse has increased four fold under Labour from 4,100 in 1997 to 16,500 in 2009.
"Labour had the chance to think the unthinkable in 1997 but thanks to Gordon Brown welfare reform was shelved", May said. "Minister after Minister has talked tough on welfare reform but Labour’s failure to shake up the system, and help the most vulnerable has left the taxpayer with a whopping bill to pick up".
"A Conservative government will be relentless in it’s mission to make sure no one is consigned to a life on benefits."