Unemployed Britons in Europe are drawing much more in benefits and allowances in the wealthier EU countries than their nationals are claiming in the UK, despite the British government's arguments about migrants flocking in to the country to secure better welfare payments and wide popular perceptions to the contrary.

But Malta bucks this trend, a table on a The Guardian story showed.

At least 30,000 British nationals are claiming unemployment benefit in countries around the EU, research by the Guardian has found, based on responses from 23 of the 27 other EU countries.

The research shows more than four times as many Britons obtain unemployment benefits in Germany as Germans do in the UK, while the number of jobless Britons receiving benefits in Ireland exceeds their Irish counterparts in the UK by a rate of five to one.

There are not only far more Britons drawing benefits in these countries than vice versa, but frequently the benefits elsewhere in Europe are much more generous than in the UK. A Briton in France receives more than three times as much as a jobless French person in the UK.

But this is not the case with regards to Malta. The table on The Guardian states that there are 21 British nationals receiving unemployment benefits in Malta while there are no less than 90 Maltese citizens receiving unemployment benefits in the UK.

The most extreme figure is that regarding Poland. The table states there are only two Brits getting benefits in Poland while no less than 14,880 are getting benefits in the UK.