He asks: "By the end of this Parliament Britain will be spending £177billion on working age welfare, up from £97bn in 2020. ‌O'Brien, the shadow minister for policy renewal and development, writes: "You can see immediately that welfare spending is intensely concentrated in urban areas. ‌At the other end of the spectrum, Shetland Islands had the lowest per capita spending on working age benefits in Scotland and the 18th lowest in the UK. O'Brien said he calculated the figures using Universal Credit, and working age spending on Housing Benefit, Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Personal Independence Payments (PIP). However, he does not take into account ALL the devolved Scottish benefits, such as the Scottish Child Payment, so the true Scottish figure will be higher.

Source: Express February 25, 2026 12:19 UTC