Tag: Jonathan Reynolds

The speech made by Jonathan Reynolds, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, on 23 August 2021.

I am so happy to be giving this speech in Manchester. When I first arrived here from Sunderland at 18 I looked at the CIS Tower and I thought I was in Manhattan.

I am immensely proud of being a Greater Manchester MP and in the economic success that we have here. Manchester is a great advert for everything that is good – past and present – in our economy: the Industrial Revolution, the Cooperative Movement, the creative industries, scientific progress and our strength in legal and financial services.

But living in and representing Tameside in the East of Greater Manchester as I do, I also understand that there is more to the story.

For many parts of our country as traditional industries have declined, new jobs have not adequately replaced what has been lost.

We do have some tremendous jobs here in the UK. But we also have too much work that is insecure and low paid. How can it be right that one in eight workers in the UK are in poverty? How can the Government claim to be at the helm of a functioning economy when the existence of foodbanks has become the norm throughout the UK? And how can we ever accept an economy in which millions of children in working households are living in poverty?

It is unacceptable for the Prime Minister and Chancellor not to even acknowledge the extent of in-work poverty in the UK, let alone take steps to tackle it. As much as the Government would like to bury their head in the sand, on their watch the link between working hard and getting on in life has been broken for far too many people.

Low pay, insecure work and an inadequate social security system is holding our economy back.

The central challenge as we emerge out of this pandemic must be to end the inequalities in our society and economy which it has so cruelly exposed.

Now must be the moment to offer people real hope, and optimism, for the future. Labour intends to do that.

I want to talk to you today about our plans for Universal Credit, but also how addressing these issues cannot just be the responsibility of the social security system, it requires a New Deal for Working People.

Our social security system has taken a political beating under the Conservatives. Under George Osborne they weaponised the politics of ‘welfare’. They stigmatised recipients of social security and set a false narrative of ‘shirkers’ versus ‘strivers’. They used this false divide as a reason to strip back our social security safety net until it was thread bare.

As a result, nearly all of the gains of programmes like Sure Start and the reduction in child poverty achieved by the last Labour Government have been reversed. That meant that when the pandemic hit, we did not have what we needed as a country to get us through the crisis.

Billions of pounds have been spent on emergency programmes, like furlough, and existing policies like Universal Credit have had to be significantly altered in order to cope. Now I say only fools would refuse to learn from that.

To build the brighter future I believe our economy can have, we must work with businesses to ensure all jobs are good jobs. But alongside that we need an effective social security system that supports a prospering labour market.

It is not, and never has been, a choice between the two. The Labour Party was founded to represent working people. Work has of course changed beyond recognition in the years since then – but Labour’s mission has not. Our job is to make work fulfilling and to give working people power over our own lives.

The Labour Party is the party of work, whether you work in the public or private sector, whether you’re self-employed or not, whether you live in the North or the South. And I say that is entirely consistent with making sure those who can’t work – due to illness or economic shocks – are treated with dignity and respect.

Work is a core part of who we are, and people rightly take pride in what they do. Labour’s mission is to achieve good work for everyone. That includes our plans to create 400,000 jobs, support 100,000 new start-up businesses and provide 100,000 apprenticeships.

The Government have presided over a jobs crisis that continues to let our young people down. They are complacent about the huge numbers of long-term unemployed people and they are sleepwalking into another crisis for those sectors which cannot fully reopen but will lose all furlough support next month.

We need firm foundations for a strong recovery which is why Labour would promise a job or training opportunity for anyone at risk of long term unemployment. But we cannot fix our broken labour market without replacing Universal Credit.

Over the last year we have fought very hard to retain the uplift to Universal Credit that was introduced at the beginning of the crisis. This proposed cut this Autumn will increase poverty and hold back our recovery.

Cutting the budgets of the very families who need it most is unforgivable but add to that the fact that it will weaken our economy and the Government’s decision simply makes no sense at all. That £1,000 is money that is spent in shops and restaurants on our high streets. Taking that money out of our economy when an economic recovery is not fully established is simply robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Also let’s get something clear, and I hope Government Ministers are listening. Universal Credit is an in-work benefit. In fact, almost 40% of all claimants are currently in work.

So when the Prime Minister says, it’s a choice between keeping the uplift and getting people back into work, he is simply wrong.

I don’t know what is worse: either that the Chancellor and Prime Minister don’t know how Universal Credit works, or that they are wilfully bending the truth. Either way their ignorance is an insult to millions of decent people.

Taking away that £20 a week would push 500,000 people, including 200,000 children into poverty, it will damage any economic recovery by reducing consumer spending, and it will disproportionately hit the North and the Midlands.

This is a government whose rhetoric never matches reality – and is just letting people down

When parliament returns we will be fighting this cut with every tool at our disposal. Every Tory MP will have a choice. It’s all well and good saying they’re sympathetic. But it’s time every MP makes a decision about whose side they are on.

Will they stand up to the Chancellor and Prime Minister and defeat this cut? Or will they let the government spend money on handing out dodgy contracts to their mates and pub landlords while cutting the incomes of millions of working families?

But the problems of Universal Credit go beyond this. I know the Government would like to say the crisis has validated Universal Credit. I’m afraid the reality is very far from that.

We should certainly be grateful for the tremendous efforts of frontline staff to get claims processed. But the Universal Credit being offered in the crisis was a very different Universal Credit to the one that’s usually on offer. Not only was the core amount increased, but sanctions were suspended, as were things like the Minimum Income Floor which calculates support for self-employed people.

And at the same time, entirely new policies were introduced – like furlough and the self-employed income support scheme – because even if you qualify for Universal Credit, it’s level of wage replacement is so low that it was inconceivable that people could have been left to depend on Universal Credit alone. And even when those additional policies were taken into account, millions of workers were still Excluded entirely.

So I don’t think Ministers should be congratulating themselves. Instead, they should be honest and recognise that the system we had going into this crisis was not sufficient.

The next Labour Government will replace Universal Credit because Universal Credit, as it stands, is fatally flawed.

For too many people Universal Credit means food banks, housing arrears, sanctions and stigma. Now, the objectives of a simple, more seamless combined benefit were and are laudable.

But what’s remarkable is that the major problems of Universal Credit today, are still the ones first identified by constituencies like mine when they were pathfinders for the new benefit eight years ago. And the Government has never been willing to listen.

Today Labour is making a commitment to address one of the most significant failures of Universal Credit.

Universal Credit was sold as a way of always making work pay. Yet for some people it has reduced the incentives to work more hours.

The taper rate, which is the rate at which benefits are withdrawn as a person earns more money, is 63p in the pound under Universal Credit. But that figure doesn’t account for National Insurance or income tax.

The real taper rate for many people is actually 75%. That means those on low incomes pay a marginal rate of tax far higher than any other group in the country – including the Prime Minister.

So I am pledging today that the next Labour Government, as part of our commitment for a New Deal for Working People, will reduce the taper rate when we replace Universal Credit.

Labour is committed to a fairer system which means those who need help from the social security system are not punished for wanting to earn more and contribute more.

I also want to say today that tackling low pay and in-work poverty cannot simply fall on the social security system alone. The OBR have forecast that by 2025 the UK will be spending £76.6bn on Universal Credit and its legacy predecessors.

I will defend the principles of the UK’s social security system with every breath I have, but at present I look at those figures and believe too much of what we’re spending is due to the Government’s bad choices. Their complete mismanagement of our labour market and our housing market has created a fractured and broken system which is delivering low wage, insecure work alongside skyrocketing housing costs. And it’s only right to try and correct those failures in the labour market at source.

The plans we have, to improve our social security system, should be considered as one seamless package alongside our New Deal for working people. That includes our ambition to give everyone full employment rights from day one and create one clear employment status for all employees.

Increasing the minimum wage immediately to at least £10 an hour, sick pay for everyone, protection against unfair dismissal, flexible working and the right to join a trade union, are all part of our plans for a new deal for working people. But they will also mean we have far fewer problems to rectify by way of the DWP budget.

We have a huge opportunity as we come out of the pandemic, and a responsibility, to put right what was going wrong before. We oppose the Government’s decision to cut Universal Credit from October this year. But we want to go beyond that, ensuring low paid people in the UK can work the hours they need and keep more of the money they earn.

I firmly believe our social security system can support a labour market that works for working people. A system that gets you back on your feet, is there for you in hard times but doesn’t stop you earning or taking the hours that you want.

We cannot build a fairer more compassionate economy without replacing Universal Credit with a system that works, and that values work.

The divide between us and the Conservatives is clear. They want to take £1,000 off working families next month, Labour wants to help families earn and keep more money. Because Labour knows the value of work and what working people need to succeed.

The comments made by Jonathan Reynolds, the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on 27 May 2021.

This report confirms that there is strong public support for a social security system in the UK that offers a decent safety net to all. The pandemic has shown Universal Credit to be inadequate, leaving too many people to fall through the gaps.

These findings will make an important contribution to Labour’s plans for a replacement of Universal Credit which guarantees a proper standard of living and makes work pay.

The comments made by Jonathan Reynolds, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, on 18 May 2021.

While it is encouraging to see businesses reopen with the easing of restrictions, long term unemployment is rising at its fastest rate in over a decade. Young people continue to bear the brunt of the crisis with over half of the fall in employees being under 25, yet the Government’s Kickstart scheme has provided opportunities for just 1 in 25 young people.

If our economy is to emerge stronger from this pandemic we cannot allow a generation to be scarred by unemployment. Labour’s jobs promise would provide a job or training opportunity for any young person away from work or education for six months and ensure no one is away from work for more than a year.

The comments made by Jonathan Reynolds, the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on 20 April 2021.

Unemployment is persistently high yet the Government’s programmes to get people back into work are still not up and running. These figures show more than half of the people losing their employment were under-25 but the Conservative’s struggling Kickstart scheme has created just 6,000 jobs.

Those who have lost their jobs deserve so much better – Labour’s ‘Jobs Promise’ would guarantee young people out of work for six months a training or job placement and make sure no one is left out of work for more than a year.

The comments made by Jonathan Reynolds, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, on 17 March 2021.

This is a welcome judgement on a frankly absurd policy that disproportionately pursued those with very little means, just at the point they had begun to turn their life around.

Universal Credit deductions and the five-week wait for payments have been a disaster – forcing people already struggling to get by into debt and destitution.

Labour would replace Universal Credit with a fair and compassionate system that offers security to all.

The comments made by Jonathan Reynolds, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, on 23 February 2021.

Britain is facing the worst economic crisis of any major economy because of this Government’s incompetence and indecision. As a result millions more families are struggling to get by on Universal Credit.

Cutting Universal Credit by £20 a week – over £1,000 a year – will push children into poverty and leave out of work support is at its lowest level in decades at a time when unemployment is set to peak.

Rishi Sunak must take action to secure our economy now by cancelling his economically illiterate cut to Universal Credit.

The comments made by Jonathan Reynolds, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, on 4 February 2021.

It is completely wrong that parents are worrying if they can make ends meet and have enough to feed their kids because the Government plan to cut their income by £1,000 a year.

Britain is facing the worst recession of any major economy because of this Government’s incompetence and indecision – yet they want struggling families to pay the price.

The Chancellor must offer certainty to families now and secure our economy by cancelling this cut.

The comments made by Jonathan Reynolds, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, on 23 January 2021.

It is deeply irresponsible for the Chancellor to be winding down support for families with his cut to Universal Credit that will leave unemployment support at a 30 year low.

Britain has had the worst recession of any major economy because of exactly this kind of sticking plaster decision by a Chancellor who seems incapable of planning for the future.

With jobs being lost each day and the furlough cliff edge looming, a one off payment rather than the extension of the uplift will mean that anyone who needs support after April when unemployment is set to peak will fall through the gaps.

The Government should do the right thing and secure our economy by cancelling the cut to Universal Credit.

The statement made by Jonathan Reynolds, the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in the House of Commons on 18 January 2021.

I beg to move,

That this House believes that the Government should stop the planned cut in Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit in April and give certainty today to the six million families for whom it is worth an extra £1,000 a year.

I am not here to claim that Conservative MPs are heartless, lack compassion, or have insufficient regard for the poorest people in this country. I know that after the vote on free school meals, many Conservative MPs, mainly after comments made by other Conservative MPs, received a high degree of personal abuse, and I want to make it clear unequivocally that that is wrong. I am here to put forward a clear and, I believe, compelling case that reducing universal credit and working tax credit this April would be fundamentally the wrong decision. It would be a profound mistake for families, for the economy and for our ability to effectively tackle and recover from the covid pandemic.

Before putting forward that case, I wish to address the Prime Minister’s suggestion that Parliament is somehow not the right place to have this discussion. Opposition days have been a feature of our parliamentary system for many decades. They were used very successfully by the Conservative party when it was in opposition—for example, when the Labour Government were defeated over resettlement rights for Gurkhas in 2009, or over post office closures. All majority Governments, except this one, have accepted that if they cannot win a vote in Parliament on one of their policies, then they have to change that policy. This decision cannot be deferred until a Budget, because the Government cancelled the November Budget and have not brought forward a Finance Bill since March.

I put it to all Members that Parliament is exactly the right place to have a discussion of such consequence to the country. The Government cannot expect to preach parliamentary sovereignty one week, and run away from parliamentary scrutiny the next. Too often, the Prime Minister seems unwilling to abide by basic democratic norms and to accept proper scrutiny and accountability. We have seen in the US where that can end.

Let me also say at the outset that, throughout the pandemic, the Opposition have always sought to be constructive. The official Opposition want the national strategy to succeed. In that spirit, we welcomed the changes that the Government made to universal credit at the beginning of the crisis. The £20-a-week weekly increase, and the suspension of conditionality and the minimum income floor, were necessary steps to support people. Recognition must also go to frontline Department for Work and Pensions staff, who kept our social security system going through the early stages of the crisis, making sure that hundreds of thousands of new claimants received the support they needed. All those staff deserve our praise, from the civil servants working in the Department to the security guards I met recently, who face difficult working conditions keeping Jobcentre Plus offices open.

However, the fact that such urgent changes were required to provide a basic safety net is a telling assessment of where the social security system was when we went into the crisis. If we cannot properly support people in a time of need without emergency surgery to the system, it is not fit for purpose. The fact is that support for people in this country when they lose their job or cannot work is significantly lower than in comparable European countries.

I will address three points: how we got here; the case for reversing this cut to secure our economy; and, finally, the human impact if the Government refuse to change course.

Sammy Wilson (East Antrim) (DUP)

Does the hon. Gentleman accept that a pressing reason to have a debate and vote on this issue today is the fact that all the evidence suggests that the restrictions resulting from the measures taken to deal with covid have hit the poorest in society hardest? Poverty is up, and those people who most depend on this kind of support are the ones who are most damaged at the moment.

Jonathan Reynolds

I agree. Inequality, and the differential impact on people, has been one of the defining features of this crisis. I do not think anyone can avoid that. It is relevant to make that point in this debate.

We have to be honest about the state of our social security system going into the crisis. Since 2010, poverty has increased significantly in the UK. In addition, people who were in poverty in 2010 are now so much deeper in poverty than they were. This is not an argument about definitions. Conservatives themselves were the driving influences behind bodies such as the Social Metrics Commission, which came up with a new definition of poverty that was actually very similar to the one that has traditionally been used. The Government’s own estimate is that 4.2 million British children live in poverty. That is shameful, wrong and unnecessary.

The UK, along with Ireland, is an outlier compared with the rest of Europe when it comes to inequality. That means that the reality for millions of families is that they went into this crisis already under significant pressure. As the Resolution Foundation said in 2019, the 1.7% increase to universal credit that year was the first working-age benefit increase for five years. Last year, the real value of basic out-of-work support was lower than when John Major was Prime Minister, so anyone claiming that the system is too generous, or who is trying to resurrect the stigmatising rhetoric of George Osborne, simply has no case to make.

Steve Brine (Winchester) (Con)

The hon. Gentleman is a reasonable man—I like him. He is making a sensible speech. While we are being honest about social security systems, is it still the Opposition’s policy to abolish universal credit, as it would have been had they won the general election in December 2019, although it is widely accepted to have been successful in flexing to expand in the current crisis? Is it still Her Majesty’s Opposition’s policy to abolish the entire system, and what do they propose putting in its place?

Jonathan Reynolds

Yes, it is our policy to replace universal credit—not to abolish the welfare state, as some of those videos from Conservative central office have tried to make out today. After I address the causes and the question before us today, I will be happy to talk about some other problems that go beyond the core amount of universal credit, and about why replacing universal credit is the right policy. But before we get to that point, I have to stress that, if this cut goes ahead, it will leave unemployment support at its lowest level ever relative to average earnings. That is not just morally unjustifiable; it is economically incompetent. Cutting unemployment support in the middle of a recession is always the wrong choice, which is why no Government have done so since the great depression.

Laura Trott (Sevenoaks) (Con)

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his tone at the beginning of the debate. Just for our understanding, will he tell us whether the Opposition propose making this increase permanent? If so, how do they propose to pay for it?

Jonathan Reynolds

We believe that this uplift should stay in place during the crisis, and I do not think anyone believes that the crisis will end in April. I will make some points about long-term proposals near the end of my speech, as well as about why the whole system requires much more considerable reform than just tinkering around with the core amount.

The cost of paying for all this is significant: around £6 billion. That would vary depending on the levels of unemployment throughout the year, but any measure right now that cuts public spending or raises taxes in the middle of the biggest economic downturn for 300 years would be the wrong policy. Decisions will have to be made as we get into the middle of this decade to address the levels of debt that have been accrued by the Government during this crisis, but that is not the right choice now.

I want to focus on the point raised by the hon. Member for Sevenoaks (Laura Trott), because if the Government are seriously thinking about economic recovery, cutting universal credit is like pulling the rug from under the economy’s feet. This £20 a week is not saved by families; it is spent in shops and businesses across the country, stimulating the economy. We all agree that this pandemic and the unemployment crisis will not be over by April this year, and whatever protestations we have heard on social media or in the press—and, frankly, however people vote today—I know that there are many people on the Government Benches who agree with this case. The former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the right hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire (Stephen Crabb), recently said:

“Withdrawing the uplift would reduce the spending power of people on lowest incomes. This will likely reduce consumption, meaning families going without essentials and household debts rising. It would also see a reduction in spending just when the economy needs it most.”

I could not agree more with that assessment. He is also right to draw attention to the levels of personal debt for some households.

As well as the real value of benefits being historically low as we went into this crisis, the pandemic has meant very real additional costs for most families. There are more meals for people to cook at home, and more days to heat their house. People have devices and lights on at times they would not normally, and have to buy what they need to teach their children at home. The clinically vulnerable have been forced to buy food locally, at a higher cost than in larger supermarkets. Everyone has experienced the pandemic differently, but for some the costs have piled on.

Citizens Advice told me this week that three quarters of the people it helps with debt who currently receive universal credit and working tax credit would have a negative budget if the £20 was cut. That means that they will have less money coming in than going out, and will not be able to cover basic essentials such as food or heating—and it will come at a time when one in three households has lost income because of covid, and 7.3 million people are behind on their bills.

The proposed cut to universal credit and working tax credit is not the only issue causing consternation in the country right now. I would particularly highlight the continuing injustice for those people on employment and support allowance and jobseeker’s allowance, who did not even get the uplift to begin with. That is unjustifiable and discriminatory, and I ask the Minister if he would mind specifically referencing that point in his speech. Reversing the April cut to universal credit is a specific, clear and unavoidable decision that needs to be taken, which is why it is right that we are bringing it to Parliament today.

Some of the speeches that we will hear today will no doubt say that we should focus on jobs and getting people back to work, and not on social security. The Prime Minister said something along these lines at the Liaison Committee last week, but Members will know that universal credit is an in-work as well as an out-of-work benefit—40% of universal credit claimants are in work—so that argument does not work at all. To be frank, it would be helpful if someone told the Prime Minister that. Universal credit is also means-tested, so if people go back to work and do not qualify for it, they will not receive it at all. If we want to have a serious discussion about boosting employment and making work pay, let us discuss work allowances, the taper rate and deductions, but let not the Government try to use that as an excuse to do the wrong thing on this cut.

Others might say that support should be more targeted and the basic allowance is the wrong element to target. In that case, the Government would, logically, scrap the two-child limit or the benefit cap, which disproportionately affect people in the most difficulty—larger families in areas with higher housing costs. However, when we put that forward, it, too, was rejected.

Finally, there has been a proposal for a one-off payment to compensate people affected by this cut. That is an awful idea. It does not address the real-terms reduction in support, just as unemployment is expected to peak. More than that, although 6 million families are affected by this now, that cohort will change in composition throughout the year. A one-off payment based on who is eligible now will fail to support some of the people who need that help the most. So please, Minister, ask the Chancellor to think that one through again.

I know it sometimes frustrates Conservative Members that we are still determined to replace UC altogether—I was asked that question earlier—but I say to them that, if they will not listen to those on the Opposition Front Bench, they should read the work of the cross-party Select Committee on Work and Pensions and read the report of the cross-party House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, which is chaired by Lord Forsyth. They are clear and robust in highlighting the fundamental problems that currently exist: the five-week wait; the two-child limit; the erratic assessment period; the problems with paying for childcare in arrears; and the shocking design that means that many disabled people are worse off on UC. The last one of those is very personal to me and it simply is not right not to replicate how the severe disability premium worked under the previous arrangements. All this means that UC’s brand is severely tarnished. If everything was working as well as Ministers sometimes say, would we really be a country where food banks have gone from being a niche form of support, mainly for those without recourse to public funds, to a mainstream and essential method of keeping people fed? Would we have had the fundamental increase in child poverty, which is getting bigger with every year of Conservative government? Those questions deserve answers.

Throughout the crisis, the Government have often been behind the curve, never out in front, and they have left some decisions, such as on furlough extension, to the very last minute, in a reckless game of brinkmanship. That is heavily why we have, tragically, the highest death toll in Europe and the biggest economic downturn of any major economy. Let us not repeat that with this decision. We all know that families are looking at us, wondering what we will do to help make getting through this crisis just that bit easier. What they do not expect is the Government making it even harder. I hope that one thing we can all agree on is that the crisis has shone a light on some of the problems in the UK, problems that have made tackling the pandemic harder and provoked a discussion about what kind of society we want to rebuild when the pandemic is over.

If the ambition of Conservatives really is to level up the UK, it is hard to see how they can support a cut that would be so regressive to low-income families and which disproportionately affects the places the Government say they want to help. I am talking about families such Bethany and her child in Blackpool. She said to me, “I was made redundant due to coronavirus. As a single parent to a one-year-old, universal credit is now the only income I receive. If the Government does cut £20 a week, I will become one of the statistics needing to use a food bank. It devastates me to think that I will not be able to provide for my child should this decision be finalised.” Margaret, who has been volunteering at a food bank in Luton, says, “A young man came in for a food parcel. He looked thin and his face was grey. He sat down and he said that he thought he could last with no food until the universal credit came through, but he found that he couldn’t. He’d come in on a Wednesday and his universal credit was due on the Friday.” That is the reality before the cut has gone ahead. My inbox is full of personal accounts such as those. I urge every Member to look at what is in their inbox, read about the human cost of what it will be like for people if this cut goes ahead, address the worries people have about not being able to put food on the table, and think long and hard about the uncertainty and fear that all families face after 10 long, hard months of this pandemic.

I want to make a special appeal to the new MPs on the Conservative Benches whose constituents elected them in good faith for the first time in 2019. Many of those people are the first Conservative to ever be elected to those places. They have already made history and their success is a significant personal achievement. They will be remembered, but so will their votes. Most of all, when thinking about how to cast their vote today, I urge everyone to take a moment to reflect on what this cut will mean to the people who send us here: the uncertainty it will add in an already uncertain time; the loss it will bring when we have already lost so much; the fear it will cause when what people need is hope. So, for our constituents, for the economy and for the national interest, we need to cancel this cut and I ask every Member of the House today to support our motion to do so.

The comments made by Jonathan Reynolds, the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on 16 January 2021.

Britain is facing the worst economic crisis of any major economy. The chancellor’s decision to wind down support with his cut to universal credit will be devastating for families already struggling to get by and leave unemployment support at a 30 year low.

Bringing in a one off payment that doesn’t even equal half the amount the government is planning to cut from millions of families’ incomes will damage our recovery. With jobs being lost each day and the furlough cliff edge looming, a lump sum rather than extended support will leave many to fall through the gaps.

Instead of yet another inadequate sticking plaster, the government needs to do the right thing and cancel the cut to universal credit. If the chancellor refuses, we urge Conservative MPs to vote with Labour on Monday to give families the security and support they need.