AN area of Bolton has one of the highest rates of people claiming incapacity benefits in the country.

Bolton South-east - which includes Great Lever, Farnworth, Daubhill, Burnden, Hulton and parts of Deane - is ranked 67th in the list of 100 parliamentary constitencies with the highest number of people on incapacity benefits.

Leigh is even higher on the list, in 37th place.

Dr Brian Iddon MP today said he was not surprised his constituency appeared on the list, as it was a deprived area and had a history of people working in industries like coal mining and textiles - industries in which long-term injuries were common place.

The figures released this week by the Department of work and Pensions, show that 6,600 people in Bolton South-east are on incapacity benefit or receive a severe disablement allowance, while the number in Leigh is 7,300.

The figures also show that 27.7 per cent of Dr Iddon's constituents live in "severely deprived" areas, more than the 17.8 per cent living in similar circumstances in Leigh.

Dr Iddon said the Conservative government had "massaged" unemployment statistics by moving people on to incapacity benefits.

"The Tories dumped people on to incapacity benefit rather than unemployment, and they suddenly became sick rather than unemployed, and many people have stayed on those benefits," he said.

Now the government wants to bring in sweeping reforms to reshape the benefits system in a bid to re-train those people who are fit enough to get back into work.

John Hutton, secretary of state for Work and Pensions, admitted that large areas of the country are now trapped in a downward spiral of welfare dependency which could condemn a generation to a life on state handouts.

In a letter to MPs in the 100 constituencies with the highest number of people on incapacity benefits, he said: "I do not believe we should accept a system that perpetuates hardship and denies people the opportunity to better their lives by accessing the world of work.

"The vast majority of people who start receiving incapacity benefit want to go back into work, but the system currently provides them with little help in doing so.

"In households where nobody goes to work, both money and self esteem can be in short supply.

"This can mean a lack of positive role models and result in generation after generation getting stuck in the benefits trap."

He said the government wants to reform the welfare state to get people back to work and give them the chance of improving their lives.

A welfare reform green paper - to be published later this month - will attempt to break down the remaining barriers people face when seeking to enter the world of work, he added.