An ‘indefensible’ cut to ‘lifeline’
Labour MPs from across the North East have written to the Chancellor Rishi Sunak urging the Government to scrap plans for the “indefensible” cut to Universal Credit by £20 a week from October.
The additional payment was introduced during the Covid crisis to help families deal with the additional financial burden inflicted by the pandemic.
The letter was penned by Durham city MP Mary Kelly Foy and signed by all 17 Labour MPs in the North East.
Mrs Foy said: “There isn’t a single MP who’s not aware of the devastating impact the cut to Universal Credit will have on their constituents and their localeconomies, so for any politician to support it is both cruel and illogical.
“In my constituency, we have 6,510 working-age familieswho will be impacted by the cut, as well as 3,260 workingage families with children.”
A key focus of the letter was the potential impact on the region’s most vulnerable residents by the removal of the financial “lifeline” which the MPs say will deprive families in our region of about £4million
and impact on about 160,000 children.
The letter stated: “We believe that to slash support for the most vulnerable in our society would be wrong at the best of times, but to do so duringa pandemic is indefensible.
"In particular, the decision to combine this cut with an end to the furlough scheme, means that the main form of job retention will be removed while simultaneously reducing the main form of unemployment support.
"It is simply incomprehensible why any responsible government would choose to take such action when the negative consequences are so clear to see.”
Defending the decision, a
Government spokesman said: “As announced by the chancellor at the Budget, the up lift to Universal Credit was always temporary. It was designed to help claimants through the economic shock and financial disruption of the tough est stage soft he pandemic, and it has done so.”
MPs backing the letter include Sharon Hodgson, MP for Washington and Sunderland West, Bridget Phillipson, MP for
Houghton and Sunderland South, Julie Elliott, MP for Sunderland Central, along with Emma Lewell-Buck and Kate Osborne who represent the constituencies of South Shields and Jarrow respectively.