SOLIHULL Lib Dems have slammed Government plans to scrap the Universal Credit uplift as ‘heartless’.
They say as many as 14 per cent of hard-pressed families across the Solihull constituency and 23 per cent across Meriden face being left worse off when the Conservative government ends the 20 per cent Universal Credit uplift next month.
New data from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation exposes, they say, the true nature of how badly some areas will be hit by the £20 Universal Credit cut, which is opposed by Solihull and Meriden Liberal Democrats.
Responding to the data, Councillor Laura McCarthy (Elmdon) Liberal Democrat Group Leader said: “This cut to Universal Credit will do untold damage to so many of our local families – causing further suffering to those already struggling.
“It is cruel and heartless.
“There is no excuse for the harm that this will do to families across our borough.
“There is no question that the Government has to reverse this needless cut and support normal working people here.
“Solihull and Meriden Liberal Democrats are calling for the Universal Credit uplift to be made permanent.”
In the report, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimate that the Universal Credit cut alone could force 500,000 people, almost half of them children, into poverty.
Their breakdown shows that some 5,540 families in Solihull and 10,380 in Meriden will be harmed by the governments uplift cut, with 26 per cent of families with children in Solihull being affected adversely.
The cut will harm 40 per cent of families with children in Meriden.
The Lib Dem work and pensions spokesperson Wendy Chamberlain MP added: “The Prime Minister’s claim that he wants people to live by their own ‘efforts’ rather than ‘welfare’ shows how out of touch he really is.
“With almost half of those receiving Universal Credit already in work and with many having young families, this cut will leave parents and their children behind despite their efforts.”
