The number of people who have been on benefits for more than five years has increased nearly 30% under Labour.

Official statistics show that since 1999 the number of long-term claimants has grown from 1.84m to 2.34m, a 27% rise, despite a fall in the overall number of those claiming from 5.4m to 5.1m.

The increase has taken place despite Labour’s pledge when it came to power in 1997 to make cutting benefit dependency a priority. Tony Blair, the former prime minister, said: “We want to encourage work, not dependency.”

Benefit dependency is highest in former industrial areas. Easington, in Co Durham, has the highest number on long-term benefits relative to population; other hot spots include Swansea and Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales.

Ministers are also increasingly alarmed by fraud. Earlier this year David Freud, a pensions expert and government adviser, published a report which said that fewer than one in three of the 2.7m people on incapacity benefit was entitled to claim it.

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