Hammond, the saboteur Chancellor

IT IS an utterly damnable show of petty-mindedness that the Treasury is trying to sabotage welfare changes involving Universal Credit payments. Under Iain Duncan Smith’s sensible and revolutionary reforms, this is a new benefit for working-age people which merges six benefit payments into one. Chancellor Philip Hammond is refusing to release the few million pounds needed to help out claimants who suffer short-term losses as a result of moving to the new system. This is yet further evidence of how Hammond is inflicting serious damage on the May government. The Universal Credit reforms are the most substantive legacy of the Cameron government and it would be disastrous if they were halted.