Areas with high cousin marriage rates 'more likely to claim benefits'

Communities with high rates of cousin marriages are significantly more likely to claim disability benefits, according to new data seen by The Mail on Sunday.

Analysis shows a rise of a quarter in the handouts in areas where the practice is more common.

For example, in Bradford, where one in six children is born to parents who are cousins, disability benefits are 23 per cent higher than average, costing the taxpayer millions of pounds more every week.

Experts say that the increase is down to the higher risk of birth defects and deformities – which include blindness, hearing loss and schizophrenia – when a child’s parents are so closely related.

The news comes after the MoS revealed last week that the NHS has been accused of ‘taking the knee’ to political correctness after it published guidance advocating cousin marriage, saying it offered benefits such as ‘stronger extended family support systems’.