Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Axe Universal Credit £20 cut and help kids out of poverty
Rashford takes on Government again
MARCUS Rashford has urged the Government to spare the £20-a-week Universal Credit uplift from the axe – and end child poverty instead.
Ahead of next month’s planned cut, the England and Manchester United forward warned: “Instead of removing vital support, we should be focusing efforts on developing a long-term roadmap out of this child hunger pandemic.”
The Food Foundation has said the move will push the poorest families to “breaking point”.
And Labour’s Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jonathan Reynolds called it a “catastrophe”.
Rashford, who last year forced Boris Johnson into a U-turn on free school meals, said: “On October 6, millions of families will lose a lifeline. It’s a means of staying afloat as they work through the devastating effects of the pandemic.
“It’s a move that, according to Child Poverty Action Group, will see the child poverty rate rise to one in three children.”
Highlighting the hypocrisy of a Government vowing to lift people out of poverty, then doing the opposite, he added: “I Googled the definition of ‘level-up’. The response? ‘To increase something to remove a disparity’.” The Food Foundation’s director Anna Taylor said families already struggling to afford a decent diet face the cut on top of rising food and energy costs.
“We’re in real danger of pushing Britain’s poorest families to breaking point,” she said. “Many won’t be able to put food on the table.”
It comes as Citizens Advice warned up to 1.5million working people could be forced into hardship this year by the cut.
And single-parent pressure group Gingerbread predicts over a million mums and dads will suffer.
CEO Victoria Benson said: “The problems the pandemic brought haven’t gone away but the Government appears intent on removing a lifeline for vulnerable families.”
The temporary uplift was announced in March last year as the first lockdown began.
But despite growing calls for it to be made permanent, the Government is determined to remove it.
Jonathan Reynolds added that there was “still time for the Government to change course”.
He said: “We have given Conservative MPs multiple chances to oppose this cut in Parliament.
“They need to phone the Prime Minister and make clear how devastating this cut will be.”
Ex-PM Gordon Brown called the policy “morally indefensible”.
To help, visit Rashford’s campaign website endchildfoodpoverty.org/write-now and follow the steps to write to your local MP.
For more information visit foodfoundation.org.uk.
This lifeline is keeping families afloat during the pandemic MARCUS RASHFORD FIGHTING BENEFITS CUT