McVey forced to apologise for misleading Parliament on Universal Credit rollout
TORY benefits axewoman Esther McVey has been blasted by the UK spending watchdog for making “incorrect” claims about the Universal Credit rollout.
The Work and Pensions Secretary – dubbed McVile for her callous cuts – was dragged before the Commons yesterday to explain herself and said sorry for “inadvertently misleading” Parliament.
She said she had “mistakenly” told MPs on Monday that the National Audit Office felt the benefit was progressing too slowly and should be rolled out faster.
McVey said: “I want to apologise to the House for inadvertently misleading you.
“What I meant to say was that the NAO had said that there was no practical alternative to continuing with Universal Credit.”
The Minister was drawn into an extraordinary spat with the spending watchdogs. Their boss Sir Amyas Morse took the BY TORCUIL CRICHTON Westminster Editor unusual step of writing to McVey to take issue with how she responded to the report.
In a stinging rebuke last month, the NAO said the Government’s flagship benefits system was not delivering value for money and could end up costing more to administer than what it is replacing.
Labour had called on McVey to apologise or “consider her position”.
But McVey was unrepentant on the shambles yesterday, claiming criticisms were out of date as her department had finessed the welfare programme since the probe.
She mentioned housing benefit run-on, 100 per cent advances and the removal of waiting days.
McVey added “The impact of these changes are still being felt and, by definition, couldn’t have been fully taken into account by the NAO report.”
SNP SNP Work and Pensions spokesman Neil Gray said: “The Government have been happy to mislead not just the Commons, but the public about Universal Credit for years, now they’ve been found out.
“All of Esther McVey’s lines in defence of Universal Credit have been torpedoed by the NAO, which is why she was so desperate to undermine them on Monday.
“We knew she was wrong then, but her partial apology is just not enough and poses more questions than answers.
“McVey needs to come back to the House immediately and give a statement on universal credit, advising how she will address the concerns of the NAO and why she appears at odds with her own DWP officials.”
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Margaret Greenwood remained adamant McVey should consider her position. She added: “This is a very serious matter.”