Society’s poorest: Knives out against PM’s callousness

Reports are coming in that a Tory revolt is now threatening Prime Minister Boris Johnson with defeat over his divisive plans to cut up to £1,000 a year from Universal Credit payments.

The Northern Research Group (NRG) of MPs is calling for the continuance “until lockdown is lifted” of the emergency proliferation that was brought in to help poorer families survive during the Covid-19 pandemic. NRG have been defined as the “biggest threat to Boris Johnson’s authority since he came to power”.

The support for continuing the payments beyond March comes only days before Labour stages a Commons vote. This will potentially put pressure on millionaire Johnson to rethink his expected stab at the most underprivileged members in society.

The Child Poverty Action Group has also said that Johnson’s plan would hit 6 million families and push 200,000 more children below the breadline.

CROSS – PARTY THREAT TO PM?

Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said: “Rishi Sunak must end the uncertainty for millions of families and secure our economy by cancelling the cut. “If he refuses to act, we urge Conservative MPs to vote with Labour on Monday to protect families’ incomes.”

The UK’s most deprived families have been the worst ones affected by the coronavirus pandemic’s economic fallout. These people are expected to find it much harder to recover as society rebuilds, a new report warns.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) reported that those who had been struggling to make ends meet before March last year were more likely to work in precarious jobs or sectors of the economy that had been hardest hit by lockdowns.

In response to the poverty problem Primer Minister Boris Johnson, has hinted that he may cut millions of families’ Universal Credit by £20 a week in April.

If this controversial Tory stab at the underprivileged is implemented, Johnson’s actions would be in stark contrast to previous moves to help the poorest families. Universal Credit was previously raised by £1,040 for the 2020/21 financial year to help with the significant impact of coronavirus.

Incidentally, Southport’s Tory MP Damien Moore previously claimed that Universal credit was “Simple and fair and will be effective for the whole country.”

Universal Credit fiasco hitting UK’s most vulnerable families hardest

Where today does Mr Moore stand on this latest threat posed by the PM to the poorest people in society?

Mr Johnson stated that any final rate was still under review – but refused calls to end the anguish for families now.

He said: “I think what we want to see is jobs. We want to see people in employment, we want to see the economy bouncing back. I think most people in this country would rather see a focus on jobs and a growth in wages than focusing on welfare.”

Others have mentioned that Johnson’s aloof and out-of-touch sense of reality appears to discount the fact that many people who are dependent on Universal Credit are in fact also working, yet only receive low wages.

The PM had said: “the best thing is to get people into employment”. With this imperial wave of the wrist, he appeared to be blissfully unaware that 39 per cent of the 5.7million people on Universal Credit in October already had a job.

Tory policies successfully ensured that many established UK businesses were closing down, well before the Covid panic started