Areas of UK where dependence on state money rivals Cuba.

Never a good thing when you are compared to Cuba and even worse when you beat Cuba.

Some parts of Britain are becoming more dependent on state spending than Cuba, figures showed yesterday. Around two out of every three pounds spent in the North East and Wales will come from the taxpayer next year. And only the southern half of England will rely on private business and enterprise for most of its spending. The report by the City think-tank Centre for Economics and Business Research showed that taxpayers' money will account for the majority of the economy in eight out of the 12 UK regions by next year. State spending has leaped upwards as Gordon Brown has pumped money into the economy and used devices such as 'quantitative easing' to provide more cash, while the recession has pared back private commerce and industry across the country. The scale of the state economy in regions already heavily dependent on taxpayer subsidies has now grown to pro-unmatched elsewhere in the Western world. Two will be close to a 70 per cent state share next year. Wales and Northern Ireland - together with the North East of England - are on their way to overtaking Cuba, the last communist country in the Western hemisphere, where next year around 60 per cent of the economy is expected to be state-funded.

The image is shameful unless you like being a welfare parasite.