Brown unveils plan to link welfare handouts to British citizenship

London: Benefits are to be linked to British citizenship for the first time.

People who are denied a passport will also lose the right to a range of welfare handouts, including child benefit, housing benefit and income support.

In a massive extension of what Gordon Brown this afternoon called "earned citizenship", criminals who serve time in prison will automatically lose their chance to qualify for British nationality.

The dramatic steps to end the "something-for-nothing" society were announced in a government paper and a speech by the Prime Minister.

Brown set out to answer growing voter anger at what is seen as unfair milking of public services and state welfare by migrant workers by putting pressure on them to become full citizens, while also introducing new tests to make them "prove their worth".

Applicants will have to prove they are contributing to the community, such as by carrying out voluntary work, and will also be tested in English language and the British way of life.