MEN with more than one wife could benefit financially from the new benefits system, according to official House of Commons research.

The new universal credit welfare system being phased in across the UK is set to reward polygamous households with higher benefits, research has found.

Yesterday, Tory MPs and campaigners called for polygamy to be made illegal in the UK and for men with multiple wives to be prosecuted like bigamists.

Multi-wife marriages are legally recognised in the UK if they took place in one of the 50 or more countries where polygamy is permitted, such as Middle Eastern states, Pakistan and Zambia.

In the UK it is illegal to marry more than one person, but there are no figures on how many polygamous households