(Ross, Skye and Lochaber) (SNP) [V]: This week is
Challenge Poverty Week, and I would like to thank all the
organisations across Scotland and the United Kingdom that are
helping families through the most difficult of times. Their
dedication and commitment should inspire every single one of us in
the fight to end poverty. With mass unemployment looming, having
the right social security measures in place to help families over
the long term is vital. The Chancellor has so far refused to commit
to make the £20 universal credit uplift permanent, which means that
16 million people face losing an income equivalent of £1,040
overnight. Will the Prime Minister now commit to making the £20
uplift to universal credit permanent?
The Prime Minister: I welcome the right hon. Gentleman’s support
for universal credit, which the Conservative party introduced. I
am proud that we have been able to uprate it in the way that we
have, and we will continue to support people across the country,
with the biggest cash increase in the national living wage this
year. The result of universal credit so far has been that there
are 200,000 fewer people in absolute poverty now than there were
in 2010. I know that he was not a keen supporter of universal
credit when it was introduced, but I welcome his support
today.
: One of these days, the Prime Minister might
consider answering the question—it was about making the £20
increase permanent. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has painted a
clear picture for his Government: strip the £20 universal credit
uplift away, and 700,000 more people, including 300,000 children,
could move into poverty, and 500,000 more people could end up in
severe poverty—more than 50% below the poverty line. The
Resolution Foundation has called the £20 uplift a “living
standards lifeline” for millions of families during the pandemic.
Challenge Poverty Week is a moment for all of us to take unified
action against poverty. The Prime Minister has an opportunity
here and now. Will he do the right thing, will he answer the
question, and will he make the £20 uplift permanent?
The Prime Minister: I do not want in any way to underestimate the
importance of what the right hon. Gentleman is saying. It is
vital that we tackle poverty in this country. That is why this
Government are so proud of what we did with the national living
wage. We are putting another £1.7 billion into universal credit
by 2023-24. If that does not give him the answer he wants, he can
ask again next week. We will continue to support people and
families across this country, and we will continue to spend £95
billion a year in this country on working-age welfare. But the
best thing we can do for people on universal credit is to get
this virus down, get our economy moving again and get them back
into well-paid, high-skilled jobs—and that is what we are going
to do.
(East Ham) (Lab): The Government were right to increase
universal credit by £20 a week to help families with the extra
costs of the pandemic but, at the moment, that increase is due to
be removed next April. The Prime Minister has declined today to
commit to making it permanent, but will he at least agree with me
that it would be unthinkable to cut everyone’s benefit before the
pandemic is over? [907291]
The Prime Minister: Of course, we keep all these things under
constant review, but I am glad that the right hon. Gentleman
joins the Opposition in support—and approval now—for what the
Government have done with universal credit.
