Tory scrooges make the poorest suffer at Christmas

Just in time for Christmas, the rollout of Universal Credit for new claimants in Scotland was completed last week.

And because of the “in-built” five-week wait between application and payment, anyone

The story goes that the mischievous Elf reports back to Santa every night on the behaviour of his child-owner, then returns to the family home to be discovered, next morning, in all sorts of naughty situations.

That’s proof, you see, that he has a applying from now on won’t get any money until January. Maybe February.

Nothing seems certain with UC except that it punishes those who need the cash most.

This is Dickensian cruelty. Foodbanks are already struggling to cope and rent arrears are rocketing.

Toy appeals have been launched to provide gifts for vulnerable children, while more fortunate kids raise money to help their peers in a way that, in the recent past, they might have fundraised for third-world countries.

Now we really know what Brexit means – ignoring the day-to-day suffering of people who are too busy worrying about where their next meal is coming from to care about our future in Europe.