Thousands of families WILL be worse off
Universal Credit in tatters after McVey’s confession
THE Tories’ flagship Universal Credit was in disarray last night after Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey finally admitted some families would be worse off.
McVey was forced to confess thousands of households will lose out when the welfare overhaul is rolled out nationally next summer.
Her car-crash BBC interview came as ex-PM John Major warned the benefits shake-up could become Theresa May’s Poll Tax.
Campaigners piled pressure on ministers to halt the nationwide expansion amid mounting fears it will plunge families into poverty.
McVey’s bid to defend the benefit, which rolls out to 3.95million welfare claimants from July, backfired spectacularly as she repeatedly refused to deny it would cost more than three million households £1800 a year.
She also refused to deny telling her Cabinet colleagues millions of families would lose £200 a month.
The Cabinet Minister admitted: “We made tough decisions – some people will be worse off.”
McVey’s admission comes after May told the Commons on Wednesday that none of the claimants due to be transferred on to UC would see reductions in payments, thanks to a £3billion transition protection fund.
A Downing Street spokeswoman denied the PM had misled MPs, insisting: “Absolutely not. She was answering a question about people moving through the managed migration process.”
But Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Margaret Greenwood said: “Now that Esther McVey has admitted that people will be worse off under Universal Credit, this Conservative Government have no excuse for pushing ahead with their shameful programme.
“This exposes No10’s claim this week that no family will receive less money under Universal Credit as fiction.”
Jeremy Corbyn vowed to stop the rollout if Labour won power.
He said: “Three million families are going to be worse off by about £50 a week from Universal Credit, so immediately we will say ‘we will stop this process’.”
Earlier, Major warned of “deep political trouble” from the rollout. Faced with claims families could lose £2400 a year, he told the BBC: “If you have people who have that degree of loss, that’s not something the majority of the British population would think of as fair.”
Echoing comments by fellow ex-PM Gordon Brown, the Tory warned it could cause “the sort of problems that the Conservative Party ran into with the Poll Tax”.
Universal Credit’s architect, ex-work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, urged ministers to pump in an extra £2billion so it can operate as planned.
He claimed the rollout was “functioning very well” – but called for funding stripped from its budget in 2016 to be restored:
Angry MPs confronted Commons leader Andrea Leadsom over the shake-up. But vowing to plough on, she said: “We’re making sure no one sees a reduction in their benefits when we move them on to Universal Credit.”
UC replaces six benefits – child tax credit, working tax credit, jobseeker’s allowance, income support, employment support allowance and housing benefit.
It will be in every Jobcentre for new claimants by December.
But union Unite general secretary Len McCluskey urged ministers to scrap the project, saying: “We need an urgent conversation about how work is made to pay so people can live in dignity.”
Mental health charity Mind said: “Universal Credit is already causing problems for many people with mental health problems.”
Disability charity Scope added: “Universal Credit is stockpiling problems that will hit large numbers of disabled people hard.”
And Citizens Advice said more individuals and families could be put at risk. They added: “If people find their benefits have stopped without moving over to Universal Credit in time, they’ll have no income to live on.”