Boris hints £20-a-week benefit rise could stay

CHANCELLOR Rishi Sunak was facing mounting pressure to keep a £20-a-week benefits rise last night after Boris Johnson seemed to hint that it could be extended.

The Prime Minister refused to confirm the increase in Universal Credit brought in during the pandemic will end by April, as it is scheduled to do.

His words may have helped quash a brewing Tory rebellion after several of his MPs threatened to vote with Labour last night in favour of extending the welfare increase.

In the event, just six Tory MPs backed the Opposition motion, which was symbolic as it is not binding on the Government.

Mr Johnson had called on his MPs to abstain from voting in yesterday’s Opposition Day Debate, which his ministers branded a ‘political stunt’. The PM, Chancellor and Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey held a meeting last Friday to discuss what to do about the £20 weekly rise after it is scheduled to end.

The options included extending the benefit, introducing a one- off payment of £500 to families, or tapering off the support.

Mr Sunak brought in the increase throughout the pandemic at a cost of £6billion. He said it was a timelimited measure. But as its expiry on March 31 approaches, he and the PM are under pressure from Tory MPs, including Miss Coffey and many who won ‘red wall’ seats from Labour.

Moving to stem a possible rebellion yesterday, Mr Johnson refused to say what will happen to the rise.

He told reporters: ‘What we have said is we will put our arms around the whole of the country throughout the pandemic.

‘We have already done £280billion worth of support and we will keep all measures under constant review.’ It had been thought that he was in favour of a one- off payment to replace the regular weekly increase, but he appeared to be moving towards an extension yesterday.

Government sources said a decision would have to be made before the Budget in March, but was unlikely to come this week. The final decision will rest with the Prime Minister.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer yesterday called Mr Johnson ‘pathetic’ for telling Tory MPs to abstain in last night’s vote.

But the Prime Minister’s press secretary, Allegra Stratton, accused Labour of pulling a ‘political stunt’, adding: ‘We haven’t made a decision. We know it [the hike] runs out at the end of March, we know that households want to know what is coming next and he [Mr Sunak] is going to come forward with more information shortly.’

Mr Johnson told Conservatives in a WhatsApp message to miss the vote as he accused Labour of ‘playing politics’ with ‘legislatively vacuous opposition debates’.

However, former work and pensions minister Stephen Crabb told MPs he would rebel to back the opposition for the first time ever, warning that ending the increase ‘will cause hardship to families’.

The Prime Minister also faced pressure from the 65 Conservative MPs in the Northern Research Group (NRG), who said ending the increase would be ‘devastating’.

Simon Fell, a member of the group, said: ‘I’m glad to stand with my colleagues in the Northern Research Group when we say that now is not the time to consider any reduction in the uplift in Universal Credit.’

Robert Halfon, the Tory chairman of the education committee, said Universal Credit has been ‘invaluable for millions of people during the lockdown’. In the event, Mr Halfon, Mr Crabb and fellow Tory MPs Peter Aldous, Jason McCartney, Anne Marie Morris and Matthew Offord voted with Labour.

The Government temporarily increased the benefit to help families through the Covid crisis, but the uplift is due to expire in April, potentially hitting the incomes of six million families.

‘We’ll put our arms around country’