‘They’re absolutely shameless’
ARNOLD and Jeanne Mballe Sube’s massive benefits bill was last night accused of bringing the ‘welfare system into disrepute’.
The Cameroon-born couple, who have eight children, are reported to receive annual state handouts and grants worth £44,000.
Someone in work would have to earn £64,000 a year to take home £44,000 after tax and National Insurance are deducted.
Before arriving in Britain, they emigrated from Cameroon to France and became European Union citizens, making them eligible for a raft of benefits in the UK.
Mr Sube is studying to become a psychiatric nurse.
His three-year degree costs £27,000 and is funded by the NHS.
After being evicted from their previous home, the couple also spent four months living in a hotel at a cost of £38,400 to taxpayers, plus a £21,000 room service and restaurant bill, according to The Sun.
The family’s claims has reignited the row over EU migrants’ right to claim benefits in the UK.
Under current rules, once EU nationals have been living in Britain for three months they can claim income-based jobseeker’s allowance and child tax credits up to £2,780 a year per child.
Parents can claim a weekly child benefit allowance of £20.70 for their eldest child and £13.70 a week for additional children.
Philip Davies, the Conservative MP for Shipley, said: ‘This is making a mockery of the benefits system.
‘It’s absolutely shameless and brings the welfare system into disrepute.
‘This family shouldn’t keep having children if they can’t afford to keep them themselves, and they shouldn’t expect the taxpayer to pick up the tab for a massive family they can’t afford.
‘They should be offered no more housing until they can look after themselves. It’s a kick in the teeth to anybody who behaves responsibly and works hard.
‘The welfare state is there to help people who are in real need of it, not to be an alternative lifestyle choice.’
The rules have been made stricter in recent years in an attempt to discourage people being drawn to the UK by generous state handouts.
While new migrants from the EU cannot claim any benefits until they have lived here for three months and have started work or are actively seeking work with a genuine chance of being hired, because the Subes arrived in the UK in 2012 they are still eligible to receive benefits under the more generous older rules.
In February, former prime minister David Cameron secured a deal with Europe which would have allowed Britain to bar EU migrants claiming in- work benefits for four years.
The scope and scale of the agreement was criticised by Eurosceptics at the time. However, the Cameron deal is now redundant after the historic Leave vote in June.
Earlier this year a manual on how to get the most out of Britain’s benefits system was produced for Polish migrants.
The 20-page brochure gave advice on how to bank thousands of pounds in hand-outs, and was produced by a UK-based newspaper for the Polish population in this country.
It asserted that the UK had the ‘best developed’ benefits system in Europe.