Tories deny poverty with Universal Credit cut

From immigration to the economy, Curtis Daly busts some of the most harmful myths propagated by right-wing politicians, pundits and the media.

Video transcript

A recent interview with Therese Coffey has correctly sparked outrage. As we know, Universal Credit is to be cut by £20 per week next month. 

Amazing! First of all, the national minimum wage is £8.91, not £10 per hour. Therefore working an extra 2 hours per week doesn’t make up the £20 she claims. 

The more worrying issue is that, as someone who is head of the DWP, Coffey doesn’t even understand how it works!

For every £1 earned, 63p is taken away from Universal Credit payments. In real terms that would mean for every hour worked on minimum wage, claimants would receive only £2.24 per hour. So in order to make up the £20 difference, a claimant would need to work around 9 hours extra just to break even!

Those that have children, would have to spend extra money on childcare just so they can go and work the extra hours. This means claimants will always lose out. What we have is a disgusting move by the government that is trapping many people into impossible situations.

Add in the fact that National Insurance will be increasing, those on Universal Credit will be squeezed from both sides.

Poverty deniers

I do wonder whether the Tories truly don’t understand the hardship they put people through, or that it’s by design despite what some think, the pandemic isn’t over, that was what the Covid uplift was for.. No impact assessment was made by the government, they didn’t care enough to investigate the effects this will ultimately have.

The Tories are poverty deniers. The decisions being made aren’t about the economy, the policies won’t bring in revenue, and any of the so-called cost saving decisions won’t be spent elsewhere.. it will end up going right where they planned for it to be, in the hands of the wealthy.

Still not convinced? Check out these resurfaced clips from Michael Gove…

Embarrassment

This is what the Conservative party thinks about the working class. The core of conservative ideology, they want to protect the current class system. They don’t want to rock the boat, they believe those that are poor or are struggling, are to blame.

You can pathetically hear Gove really trying to impress his elite political peers, that’s embarrassing.

What is the alternative? There is a better way of doing this. Cutting incomes of those at the bottom doesn’t magically create more employment, pulling the rug beneath people is cruel. The proper way is to invest.

What do I mean by that?

Well, we invest in people. Start off with a real living wage, those that are in work shouldn’t need to rely on the welfare state – we lift people out of their struggles. Invest to create good quality jobs, a long term plan such as the Green New Deal, something we will go into much more in the future. We invest in public services including mental health, and drive out food banks from society.

Finally, our attitudes to welfare and people. We must stop demonising welfare, we must resist the pressure to over-work, the idea that working 40-50-60 hours until you drop is the only moral way to live.

Let’s bring some dignity back, something the Tories don’t know the meaning of.