'A budget that fails to reverse deep cuts'
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THE Chancellor of the Exchequer has been accused by north MP Jamie Stone of merely "tinkering around the edges" over the controversial Universal Credit scheme.
In his budget statement this week, Philip Hammond said he would provide an extra £1 billion over five years to provide relief for claimants moving on to the benefits system, which has been trialled in the Highlands. It replaces six benefits, including housing benefit and working tax credit, with a single payment.
Mr Stone, the Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, condemned the universal credit changes as "heartless".
He said: "I have been absolutely deluged by constituents telling me that the roll-out of Universal Credit is not only happening too fast but also that a lot of deserving claimants are losing out financially.
"We have also seen Highland Council footing a £2.5 million bill due to the flawed roll-out, which is scandalous. This money could otherwise have been spent on desperately needed proper local services.
"A civilised society is one that takes care of people who face great difficulties financially through no fault of their own. That was the generous spirit that was the foundation of the welfare state.
"However, the changes that we are seeing as universal credit is rolled out do seem particularly heartless and all that we have seen in this most recent budget doesn't alter the fact that a significant number of people will lose money at the time when they most desperately need help. It seems to me that we may well see still more pain for these people before the Government finally twigs that there is something fundamentally wrong here."
Drew Hendry, the SNP MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, criticised the Chancellor for failing to deliver the investment needed to reverse cuts and help people on Universal Credit.
Mr Hendry warned that almost three million people who have already moved on to universal credit – including around 8000 across the Highlands – will not benefit from the £1 billion pledge aimed at easing the transition.
"This is a budget that fails to reverse the deep cuts too many people in our communities are living with because of Universal Credit," Mr Hendry said. "The Chancellor's budget statement showed a complete lack of understanding of the sheer scale of the issues with Universal Credit, and the level of investment needed to fix the system.
"The promised investment of a £1 billion over five years to the DWP to help ease the transition to Universal Credit won't even paper over the cracks of the broken system, let alone fix it. Nor will it do anything to help the almost three million people already moved over to Universal Credit – 8000 of whom live in the Highlands."
