Wales TUC: UK Gov are ‘levelling down’ Wales with Universal Credit cuts
Planned cuts to Universal Credit will impact ‘tens of thousands’ of working families, Wales TUC has warned.
The union body says it will be ‘levelling down’ Wales with 280,000 people made worse off by the UK Government’s scheduled £20 cut to the weekly benefit.
Work and Pensions Secretary Theresa Coffey justified the reduction earlier this month on the grounds that it would help to get people ‘back into work’.
But analysis by Wales TUC suggests that more than a third (37.1 per cent) of those hit in Wales will be working families – many of them key worker households.
Shavanah Taj, General Secretary of Wales TUC said: “Everyone should have enough money to live on. But if the Universal Credit cut goes ahead tens of thousands of working families in Wales – including key workers – will be forced to get by on much less every week.
“It is levelling down – not levelling up. UK ministers should abandon this cruel cut that will hit low-income working families.”
‘Temporary’
The UK Government is planning to reduce Universal Payments by £20 a week this autumn after the rate was lifted during the pandemic.
A call for the higher rate period to be extended has received cross-party support with charities warning that the planned cut could force hundreds of thousands into poverty.
Shavanah Taj added: “We need a social security system that helps people get back on their feet – not one that locks them in poverty. And we need decent jobs on decent pay for every worker, in every part of the country.
“That means increasing the minimum wage, investing to create good green jobs and tackling the scourge of insecure work. Cutting universal credit isn’t the way to achieve decent work.”
In a recent speech on his ‘levelling up’ agenda, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted that the UK has a more unbalanced economy than any other major country.
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Yep that’s the plan. The nastiest ever version of the nasty party punishing everyone in order to “get (some) back to work”
And yet where will the money they steal from the taxpayers go? Cui bono? No doubt the bank accounts of the Westminster Junta and their unelected co-conspirators.
And the Kleptocracy continues.
And yet … the two pronged mission statement is doomed to failure. Because you can’t create a “levelled up OneNation homogenised Victorian wonderland with all natural cultures eradicated” and at the same time “steal everything that isn’t nailed down”. It’s not possible.
Wales must become independent so we can take charge of our affairs!
If you want to “level up” join Yes Cymru and have the gumption to be a sovereign nation. If you want to be treated like a 19th Century colony do nothing but grumble into your beer.
I’ll support the core objective of our independence. But I think I’ll give Yes Cymru a wide berth since it now seems to have become a bit of a bickerfest of competing ideologues who want to “lead” the movement. It is a false dichotomy to say the choices are “gain independence via Yes Cymru” versus “moan into your beer and languish in the Union” Quite frankly the stickers are probably Yes Cymru’s greatest achievement. The will for independence is growing and unless YC sort their shiite out they will squander the only serious opportunity I will see in my lifetime.… Read more »
Excellent point. I also support the core objectives of Yes Cymru but I’m finding the bickering not only negative but also couched in ideological viewpoints as well which dilute the real message. People want to hear how independence can improve their social, cultural and economic wellbeing not some long running soap opera about some personal incident that spills over into the public domain.
We all know how cruel Westminster can be, particularly a Tory controlled Westminster. I’m glad ! It makes our job easier so please keep it up. We will gain independence quicker as a result.