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Universal Credit cut 'will do real damage to so many of our local families', says Jamie Stone


By Alan Hendry

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Jamie Stone urged the UK government to 'reverse this needless cut'. Picture: UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor
Jamie Stone urged the UK government to 'reverse this needless cut'. Picture: UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor

As many as 21 per cent of "hard-pressed" families in Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross face being left worse off when the UK government ends the uplift to Universal Credit next month, local MP Jamie Stone has warned.

He highlighted new data from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation which he said exposed the true nature of how some areas will be hit by the £20 cut.

In its report, the foundation estimate that the Universal Credit cut alone could force 500,000 people, almost half of them children, into poverty. Its breakdown shows that some 5060 families in Mr Stone's constituency will be harmed, with 38 per cent of families with children being affected adversely.

The Liberal Democrat MP said: "People across Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross have had to pull themselves through this pandemic while dealing with an utterly incompetent government. This cut will do real damage to so many of our local families.

"Their is no question that government has to reverse this needless cut and support normal working people here. Highland Liberal Democrats are calling for the Universal Credit uplift to be made permanent."

Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesperson Wendy Chamberlain said: “Just as we begin to hope that Covid is being tamed in the UK, the government is ripping support from millions of families across the country. We cannot have a full recovery if families are struggling to make ends meet.

“The Prime Minister's claim that he wants people to live by their own 'efforts' rather than 'welfare' shows how out of touch he really is. With almost half of those receiving Universal Credit already in work, and with many having young families, this cut will leave parents and their children behind despite their efforts."

Chancellor Rishi Sunak told MPs in the Commons: “I don’t accept that people will be forced into poverty, because we know, and all the evidence and history tells us, the best way to take people out of poverty is to find them high-quality work."


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