LAST year Tendring Council bosses introduced controversial new rules to avoid becoming a dumping ground for so called “benefit tourists”.

The authority was one of the first in the UK to refuse benefits to people who had not lived and worked in the district for five years.

Critics branded it a “modern day Poor Law”. Now it has emerged the rule change could be illegal, leaving the council with a major bill.

Read the full story in the Clacton Gazette, out now.