IN-THE-RED WALL HIT BY CREDIT CUT EXCLUSIVE
£520m axed from incomes in Labour heartland seats the Tories won
MORE than £500million will be taken from the pockets of people in dozens of “red wall” seats, as a result of brutal Tory Universal Credit cuts that kick in this week.
Analysis shows 501,370 households, including 340,000 children, will be affected in the 54 constituencies taken by the Tories in 2019.
More than 200,000 working people in those areas will have their income slashed by more than £1,000 a year.
Charities and economists have long warned the cut could push millions of families into poverty.
Many are already struggling to make ends meet as they grapple with a cost of living crisis that has pushed up energy bills and food prices.
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the move is the latest example of ministers failing hard-working people.
Mr Reynolds added: “Any promise the Prime Minister makes to raise living standards in this country rings hollow while this cut goes ahead.
“People deserve much better than the bluff and bluster of a Government determined to make things harder for working people.”
Analysis by Labour using figures from anti-poverty charity Joseph Rowntree Foundation found in nine of the red wall Labour seats taken by the Tories in 2019 – including Blackpool South, Bolton North East and Burnley – over 12,000 households in each will be affected. Another eight – including Great Grimsby, Darlington, Lincoln and two Stoke constituencies, will all have more than 10,000 families hit. Peterborough is the worst affected overall, with 18,360 households, including 13,000 children, losing £19m between them. They include 4,831 people in work.
Local Tory MP Paul Bristow has suggested keeping the uplift would be too expensive. Labour has vowed to keep it in place until it has the chance to implement a “fairer” social security system that allows people to keep more of their earnings.