AI could collapse the British welfare state warns UK government Minister

By Matthew Griffin Opinion 11th May 2026

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Mass automation could break the tax base that funds public services, forcing a rethink of how AI gains get shared.

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After stories of Artificial Intelligence (AI) destroying capitalism itself Britain’s welfare state is in danger of collapse if AI triggers mass unemployment, Sir Keir Starmer’s top lieutenant has warned.

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Darren Jones said the benefits bill could become unaffordable within the next decade if advances in technology leaves millions out of work, calling it a “crisis that could unfold in the years ahead”.

Speaking at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) annual dinner, the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister said that while there were “benefits [in] automating simpler tasks,” rapid progress and a concentration of wealth could leave a generation of workers on the scrap heap.

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“My worry is that you see wealth coming through technology more than it comes through workers in the labour market, and we will not be able to afford to pay out of work benefits if we don’t have enough people in work paying taxes,” he said.

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“That’s not a problem right now, but I can see how it can become a problem in the decade ahead.”

Jones added that it was important for businesses to “invest in human capital” and work with the Government to ensure “human beings [had] the opportunity to set themselves up” for the future.

He said the Government had to “make sure that we’re developing proper answers now and not having to deal with the crisis that could unfold in the years ahead”.

Britain is already facing the biggest rise in unemployment in the G7, which has been blamed on Labour’s tax rises and increases to minimum wage. The UK’s unemployment rate will climb to 5.5% this year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned, up from 4.8% in 2025. The increase of 0.7 percentage points was more than any other country in the G7.

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There have also been repeated warnings that AI could materially raise unemployment. Dario Amodei, the chief executive of Anthropic, said that AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs – and spike unemployment to 10 to 20% in the next one to five years.

Could AI really make the welfare state unaffordable?
If automation removes enough taxpaying jobs without creating replacements, the funding model behind out-of-work benefits comes under strain, which is why ministers are urging firms to invest in people now.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.

An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.

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