Tomorrow the Chancellor will deliver the Budget. Thousands of local families are relying on Universal Credit (UC) to get by in the middle of this pandemic but Ministers have continued to threaten to cut this vital help.
I Chair the Parliamentary Group on Foodbanks and research shows the huge demand for Foodbanks created due to UC problems and limited access.
I wrote to the Chancellor, urging him to extend UC help. Cutting help in a pandemic and in the face of the worst damage to any major economy and with high and rising unemployment would be callous.
The Group is also calling for local authorities to be supported to continue providing local welfare assistance. I hope the Budget recognises the efforts of councils to help people in this crisis and doesn’t follow the pattern of the last decade and hit their grants again.
