WORK and Pension secretary Esther McVey has admitted that government changes to the welfare system will make some families poorer.
The Tory minister’s comments contradict guarantees from Theresa May that those moving on to Universal Credit will be “protected”.
McVey’s remarks yesterday came after former Prime Ministers John Major and Gordon Brown warned that the changes could lead to a backlash similar to the poll-tax protests.
Reports last week suggested McVey had privately told Cabinet that the introduction of Universal Credit could cost lone parents and working-age couples around £2400 a year.
READ MORE: Universal Credit will cause 'poll tax-style chaos', says Gordon Brown
Yesterday the BBC asked McVey about the comments and she insisted the change would help people, but that she’s had to make “tough decisions”. “Some people will be worse off,” she said. “Under the old system, 700,000 people didn’t get £285 a month, so they didn’t get the money they were owed. Under the old system the most vulnerable in society weren’t getting as much money as we are now going to give them.”
During Prime Minister’s questions on Wednesday, Theresa May told MPs: “We are putting in transitional protections for those people so that people who are moved on to Universal Credit as part of the process will not see any reduction—they will be protected.”
Universal Credit is meant to make work pay by only steadily removing as people gain more hours at work, rather than having cut-off points. Former Chancellor George Osborne took millions out of the benefit though for his 2015 to pay for an increase in the personal allowance.
Around 3.95 million more people will be affected by the changes due to come next July. The Resolution Foundation says about 3.2m households will be worse off by an average of about £50 a week.
Major, who replaced Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister, nine months after the poll-tax protests, told the BBC: “I don’t oppose the principle of Universal Credit, [but] I think there is a real danger that it will be introduced too soon and in the wrong circumstances.
READ MORE: We won’t stop trying to halt Universal Credit in Scotland
“So I do think we need to look very carefully at how it is introduced and when it is introduced and what the circumstances are and the resources there are available to assist its introduction.”
He added: “In order to introduce something like universal credit, you need to look at those people who in the short term are going to lose, and protect them, or you will run into the sort of problems the Conservative party ran into in the late 1980s.”
SNP MP Drew Hendry said the roll-out needed to be scrapped.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel