Five regions in Britain now earn more from the public purse than they do from the private sector, a new report claims.
The new figures showed that the economies of huge areas of the north of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland rely more on handouts from the taxpayer than from enterprise.
The gap between the regions that get the most taxpayer pounds and the rest is widening, the report from a City think tank also claimed.
The findings, based on government figures, are the most detailed yet to plot the course of growing subsidies for the regions during Labour's public spending boom that began after the 2001 election.
It shows that since then, the public sector share of the Gross Domestic Product has grown from 39 per cent to 43 per cent - even higher than Germany.
It has also raised accusations that taxpayers' money is going disproportionately to regions where voters are most loyal or most important to Labour.
The analysis by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, a City think tank, said that the South East is subsidising the rest of the country and that high public pay-outs are stifling the private sector.
The regions where taxpayer spending is greater than the money generated by private enterprise and business include devolved Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The North West and the North East of England also live on taxpayer subsidies more than on their own earnings.
But while around six pounds out of every ten spent are provided by the taxpayer in Northern Ireland, Wales and the North East, some parts of the country get little more than a third of their wealth from the state.
The lowest state share of the economy- at 34.1 per cent, is in the South East.
The calculations say that overall public spending has risen since 2001 from 39 per cent to 43 per cent of British gross domestic product - the value of all goods and services.
Douglas McWilliams, CEBR's chief executive, said: "In general high public spending and taxation are bad for economic growth and low public spending and taxation are good for growth.
"Parts of the UK have become so dependent on public spending that it can crowd out private enterprise in these regions and countries."
He added: "It is partly a chicken and egg situation - public spending in these regions is high because they are more tax is paid by the South East than it gets in public spending doing less well economically, but on the other hand a high public spending share can make a revival of the private sector difficult to achieve.
