UK – Deirdre Kelly was the ‘mother hen’ of Benefits Street - where around 95 per cent of householders were unemployed and on State handouts.
White Dee, 54, as she is better known, famously said her friends and neighbours in the ‘welfare ghetto’ of Birmingham’s James Turner Street were simply claiming what they were entitled to.
The controversial Channel 4 documentary series sparked a national debate because some of its stars openly bragged on camera about cheating the system.
However, 11 years since the show was first broadcast, Dee no longer relies on the welfare state and has dedicated herself to helping struggling locals in the Soho Road area of Birmingham, by opening a foodbank and community hub.
Speaking to the Daily Mail today, Kelly said of the abuse of benefits: ‘I can also see the other side now. We open the floodgates to people who are just using the system. Because they’ve now been allowed to use the system’.
And in her typical direct style, Dee has also delivered a damning assessment of the current Government, declaring: “Obviously, since Labour came in, the whole world thought Keir Starmer is the man for the job, [and] have our backs. Big mistake that was wasn’t it?,’’ she said.
She said working people are aggrieved about the amount of tax Chancellor Rachel Reeves is asking them to pay after this week’s budget. “You can see where people are coming from, the harder they work the more tax the government are now going to be taking off them,” she said.
Dee said the show ‘ripped the heart’ out of James Turner Street and wrecked her life. She had to change her home to protect her children and admits she has also changed her attitude towards benefits.
White Dee, 54, as she is better known, famously said her friends and neighbours in the ‘welfare ghetto’ of Birmingham’s James Turner Street were simply claiming what they were entitled to. (Pic: DailyMail)