The decline of the work ethic in Britain has been a natural consequence of the rise and rise of the welfare state. Here is the brutal reality…..

Almost a quarter of children in some parts of Britain are being born into households where no one has a job, new figures reveal. Some 23 per cent of babies in London come from jobless homes, with the average across the country 15 per cent. In the North East, North West, West Midlands and Wales, the figure stands at 18 per cent, the Office for National Statistics data shows. The report reveals London also has the highest number of single-parent families at 31 per cent.

London, we should note, was the only part of England where the Labour vote held up fairly well during the European and local Council elections. Join the dots.