MAY IS GOING TO BE A VICTIM OF HER BROKEN PROMISES
EWAN GURR
I RECENTLY had dinner in Glasgow’s east end with a friend who told me that, since being made redundant and applying for the newly rolled out Universal Credit, he has been getting up each day and going to his local library just to keep warm until he gets his first payment. As a single male, he is among the most likely to find himself at the mercy of a food bank and die before he’s 50. For the entire month of October, the controversial welfare reform has been a domestic nightmare for a UK Government focused unflinchingly on international matters. It began with two former prime ministers, on opposing ends of the political spectrum, raising concerns that the continued rollout could lead to similar outbreaks of civil disobedience seen in the 90s following the implementation of the Poll Tax.
Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey admitted claimants will be worse off under the system.
Last week, a letter was signed by 27 Conservative MPs requesting Chancellor Philip Hammond use the Budget next week to reinvest £2billion which was previously withdrawn by George Osborne.
It then emerged yesterday that party donor Lord Farmer backed the call stating that, without the reinvestment, the policy is likely to “fail millions”. Currently, Universal Credit’s freight train is rolling into Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen and, by December, will have alighted at all job centres in Scotland’s three most populous local authorities.
In the same year, Glasgow has closed more job centres than any other city in the UK, ahead of arguably the most significant welfare reform in the history of the social security system.
Food banks and their volunteers are already at breaking point.
A number of leading UK charities launched an online petition some months ago, under the auspices of End Hunger UK, to “Fix Universal Credit”, which is due to be delivered to Downing Street in a fortnight.
Some frontline practitioners and food bank managers told me they refused to sign it because they are sceptical the reform can be fixed.
Disability Welfare Rights adviser Steven McAvoy, who has worked with food banks across Scotland for more than a decade, thinks the reform is beyond repair: “Universal Credit stands upon the ideology that the system can be simplified but the situations people find themselves in are never simple.”
An Ipsos MORI poll revealed more than a 70 per cent disapproval rating for Theresa May’s Government. The last time it was that high was prior to the Labour Government’s demise.
Journalist Amanda Platell said Brexit could finish May this week.
On the contrary, I believe it is her domestic agenda that is failing to tackle the burning injustices she promised to salve at the outset of her premiership.