HOUSING BENEFITS TO BE CAPPED AT £400 A WEEK

HOW ASYLUM FAMILY WAS GIVEN £2m COUNCIL HOME

David Cameron said today it was not fair for working people to see their taxes used to fund homes 'they couldn't even dream of'.

He could have been talking about a family of former asylum-seekers from Somalia who are living in a £2.1million luxury townhouse in one of Britain's most exclusive addresses at a cost to taxpayers of £8,000 a month.

Abdi and Sayruq Nur and their seven children moved into their three-storey property in a fashionable area of London last month because they didn't like the 'poorer' part of the city they were living in.

Mr Nur, 42, an unemployed bus conductor, and his 40-year-old wife, who has never worked, are now living in Kensington despite the fact that they are totally dependent on state benefits.

They live close to celebrities, including artist Lucian Freud, singer Damon Albarn and designer Stella McCartney, and their home is just minutes from the fashionable Kensington Place restaurant which was a favourite haunt of the late Princess Diana.

The family's new home is believed to be one of the most expensive houses ever paid for by housing benefit, which is administered by local councils but funded by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Rules currently allow anyone who is eligible for housing benefit to claim for a private property in any part of the country they wish.

The £2,000 per week is paid directly to Mr Nur and his family, who then pay their landlord.

Under coalition proposals housing benefit for a four bedroom home will be capped at £400 a week, or 21,000 a year.