David Tolland

In a seemingly permanent state of disbelief.

[David Tolland @funster147]

@AberdeenFC You tit

[Thanos Angelopoulos @Th_Angelopoulos]

@jdportes is right. Here is the data @cathynewman, @vicderbyshire, and @SkyNews ought to know and to have to hand the next time a politician makes the unsubstantiated claim that welfare is "spiralling out of control" on their programmes.

@johnpringdns published a thorough piece showing that BBC and Sky News presenters consistently fail to push back on these claims. The OBR time series DNS compiled tells the story:

UK social security spending as a share of GDP (OBR, EFO March 2026):
• 2010-11: 12.0%
• 2012-13: 12.1% (post-crisis peak)
• 2019-20: 10.2%
• 2024-25: 10.7%
• 2025-26: 10.9% (forecast)

The IFS puts social security at 8.3% of national income in 1979-80. Today it is 10.7%. An increase of roughly 2.5 percentage points over 45 years. Not spiralling. A slow drift.

Where did the 2.5% come from?

• Not from working-age benefits. Non-pensioner, non-health welfare fell from 4% of GDP in 2009-10 to 2.6% in 2023-24 (Work and Pensions Committee, HC 837, July 2025). Cut, repeatedly, for over a decade.

• Pensions: state pension spending sat at 3.3 to 3.7% of GDP for two decades to 2007-08; total pensioner benefit spending then rose to 5.1% by 2023-24 (OBR). Triple lock and an ageing population. Roughly 1.5% of the increase.

• Disability and incapacity: caseloads grew from 1.2% to 2.1% of GDP between 2010 and 2024-25 (Resolution Foundation). A post-pandemic public health crisis combined with the aftereffects of austerity. Not a lifestyle choice.

• 55% of the total welfare bill goes to pensioners. The state pension alone is £146bn of the £323bn total (DWP, 2025-26).
One driver is a policy choice every major party supports. The other is a public health crisis. Neither is "scroungers".

The "spiralling welfare" line does not describe a category of spending that grew. It targets a category of spending that shrank. It is not a description of reality. It is a political project to manufacture consent for further cuts to working-age support that has already been cut to the bone.

Or, in simple English, the usual bollocks that fuck over the working class and those in need.

Sources:
@johnpringdns / DNS (2 July 2026): https://t.co/JBcYbCOOeY

OBR, EFO March 2026:
https://t.co/1PM7ZBudXX

IFS, "How have the size and shape of the UK state changed?" (May 2026):
https://t.co/3AOjc4jNTR

DWP Benefit Expenditure Tables 2026:
https://t.co/hFj0lc3WZZ

House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee, HC 837 (July 2025):
https://t.co/Da9pfaeKB8

Resolution Foundation (Nov 2025): https://t.co/2z3tujKK9X

[David Tolland @funster147]

@Peston For artistic impression?

[David Tolland @funster147]

@lewis_goodall North?

Of what?

[David Tolland @funster147]

@BethRigby North 😂

[David Tolland @funster147]

@BBCPolitics North 😂

[David Tolland @funster147]

@LBC @lewis_goodall North 😂

[David Tolland @funster147]

@BBCr4today @BBCPolitics @bbcnickrobinson @hzeffman North?

Of what?

[David Tolland @funster147]

@PeterStefanovi2 Aye. North.

Of what exactly?

[David Tolland @funster147]

@AberdeenFC @air_ingy And then decided against that?

[David Tolland @funster147]

@fitbatweets Well, it’s coming fae a roaster . . .

[David Tolland @funster147]

@AberdeenFC Get him to fuck. Utterly brainless.

[David Tolland @funster147]

@RAC_FM_Spaces @MarinaPurkiss @elonmusk There’s one less cunt though. Every cloud

[David Tolland @funster147]

@air_ingy @AberdeenFC Biblical latching by Ambrose

[David Tolland @funster147]

@bigpicturepol @Jojosdojo I’d be a bit worried about someone who did.

[David Tolland @funster147]

@BethRigby “Excoriating”

Doubt that has much credence given the predecessors. Surely a journalist would give some context here?

[Scotland Goals @ScotlandNTGoals]

I refuse to believe people don’t

[David Tolland @funster147]

@marknelsoncomic

[David Tolland @funster147]

@StadiumPrint The forerunner of President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho.

[David Tolland @funster147]

@pselbs @offtheballbbc I wish I was there!