division_name: Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits
motion: <p class="indent" pid="c980.2/2" pwmotiontext="yes">That this House calls on the Government to cancel its planned cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit which from the end of September 2021 will reduce support for many hard-working families by &#163;1,040 a year.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c987.6/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;will be significantly boosted by the good news the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will deliver within its updated forecasts on <phrase class="date" code="2021-10-27">27 October</phrase>. Borrowing this year is likely to come in several tens of billions lower than expected, having already borrowed &#163;26 billion less than previously forecast in the first four months of 2021-22. More importantly, if the OBR moves its forecast for the long-term scarring effect of the pandemic on the British economy (currently 3 per cent of GDP) into line with the more optimistic consensus (the Bank of England now expects scarring of just 1 per cent) he will have a windfall that lasts, possibly to the tune of around &#163;25 billion a year.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c987.6/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;To govern is to choose&#8221;,</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c999.2/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;There are plenty of times where I&#8217;m getting such bad hunger pains that I can barely move.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c999.2/3" pwmotiontext="yes">I can last for a while without eating. I&#8217;ve been trying to put my mind off the hunger by either doing exercise, or maybe doing a bit of work on my computer.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c999.2/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;literally like taking food off my table.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c999.2/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;If you look at the impact it&#8221;&#8212;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c999.2/10" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;has had on the food bank, last year in the first three months from January to March we saw 601 single people pre the &#163;20 uplift. January to March this year, we saw 151 single people. That&#8217;s a massive difference, not all because of the &#163;20 uplift, but a lot will be because of the &#163;20 uplift.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c999.2/14" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;going forward, my view and the government&#8217;s point of view is the best way to help people is to help them into work and make sure those jobs are well paid&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1000.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;We should not have had to have gone through a pandemic just to get that increase&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1005.1/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The uplift sent some relief and for that to be removed is going to leave us with that big question again: do I go hungry, do my kids go hungry or do we keep the house warm?&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1005.1/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;if one of the children gets a party invite&#8212;which some weeks is my worst nightmare because then I have to find the money for them to be able to do that&#8212;it is kind of a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul all of the time anyway. There have been months where I have to decide which bill I am not going to pay this month...you are constantly playing catch-up on utilities particularly...The extra &#163;86 a month has allowed for us not to be doing that so much.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1010.0/7" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Until I was forced on to UC, I was receiving ESA&#8230;My partner moved in with me and as he was working full time, we were moved onto UC in October 2017. However; my husband suddenly fell ill in April 2019 and was assessed as having limited capability for work. I have two teenage children who also live with us. I have heard the government discussing the withdrawal of this temporary support&#8230;today. Their response is that UC is designed to encourage claimants back to work and that they can make up the loss; but I&#8217;ve not heard anything about those of us who are unable to go to work due to ill health and what support there is in place for people like my husband and I who cannot work and who need to provide care for each other and financially support our family.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1013.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The challenge of avoiding a steep rise in unemployment has been replaced by that of ensuring a flow of labour into jobs.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1014.0/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;It cannot be right for the Government to take away &#163;20 a week from the precarious incomes of families like mine. Instead, it should keep it and ensure that families on legacy benefits are no longer excluded&#8230;While I realise some of these measures have to stop now life is returning to normal for many people, there will still be a high number of people like me who will be left struggling to get by. I am very stressed about the prospect of facing a financial crisis and possibly even destitution and homelessness due to this cliff edge in support.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1019.1/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;This has felt like my rock bottom&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1023.0/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I&#8217;m going to be losing &#163;86 a month and I really don&#8217;t know how I&#8217;m going to survive.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1026.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I am unemployed, 65 years of age and my sole source of income is universal credit. My income will drop from &#163;715 a month (just keeping head above water) to &#163;612 a month (drowning!). When my rent and all other bills are paid, this will leave me with &#163;89 for food, clothing, bus fares for job interviews and everything else for the month. We need help.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1026.0/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I don&#8217;t know what to do. I have been crying. I have just half a tin of beans left for us.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1028.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;a lot of difference and helps us to eat&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1030.0/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;My morale has gone, my head has gone, my heart has gone. Ripped out by a system that doesn&#8217;t care for those of us who worked so hard to keep the country together during one of its darkest hours.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1031.0/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;It may not seem like a lot, but it is absolutely vital to me and my family.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1032.2/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;With the amount I would get from Universal Credit coupled with the childcare costs and my potential wages, what I would have left at the end of the month will leave myself and my husband very tight on finances. The &#163;20 uplift makes a huge difference in our finances and my ability to work&#8221;?</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1033.2/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I will not have enough money to buy food or heat my home&#8230;I don&#8217;t know how I will eat...I am afforded no dignity...I am thrown on the scrap heap&#8221;&#8212;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1033.2/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I am ashamed to be in this situation&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1033.2/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;with the uplift... life is crushingly hard&#8221;,</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1033.2/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;But losing 20 pounds a week will send us spiralling down.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1033.2/10" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;how the Conservatives can do this to people&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1033.2/13" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I truly wish the Conservatives understood the impact of this cut. I don&#8217;t want to be on benefits&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1033.2/15" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;that we have to prove we&#8217;re worth an extra 20 pounds a week to people who say they can&#8217;t survive on 150,000 pounds a year.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1035.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;what assessment the Government have made of the impact of the cut, and how many&#8230;people in Liverpool, West Derby&#8221;&#8212;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1035.0/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;will be forced into poverty&#8221;.&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2021-09-06">6 September</phrase> 2021; Vol. 700, c. 145.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1037.1/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Hello Richard, I&#8217;ve seen your tweet about you hopefully speaking to parliament about the cut and just thought I&#8217;d like to say how it&#8217;d affect me.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="c1037.1/4" pwmotiontext="yes">I was homeless from the ages 16-20 almost as I left an abusive home from my father and lost all my family and most friends I had. I finally got my own flat this year and the amount that I have been living on has the increased boost from coronavirus payment. After this has been cut I am not going to be able to afford food, phone bills, electricity/gas/wi-fi, council tax and the odd few bills like Netflix here and there. After all these payments have come out I will have about &#163;5-&#163;10 to live off for the month and that&#8217;s not even enough to travel for places I need to be or in case of emergencies. My mental health is at an awful place at the moment and I&#8217;m trying to attend counselling for it but my anxiety and depression are so bad that I can&#8217;t work right now.&#8221;</p>