Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit

Fay Jones Excerpts

Monday 18th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Fay Jones (Brecon and Radnorshire) (Con) [V]]

I thank the staff at the Department for Work and Pensions for the way in which universal credit has stood up to the pressure of the coronavirus pandemic. In the past year, UC has supported more than 5 million households—a level of demand that would have crippled the previous legacy benefits system. An agile, targeted welfare system is of immense value to society, and particularly to the 3,000 families in Brecon and Radnorshire who depend on universal credit. I therefore firmly reject the comments of the Leader of the Opposition, who seeks to scrap universal credit altogether. Now more than ever, it is needed to support those who have been hardest hit by the pandemic.

The International Monetary Fund has commended the UK Government for their “aggressive” economic response to the pandemic, which they have called

“one of the best examples of coordinated action globally”.

More than £280 billion has been provided to safeguard jobs and incomes, through measures such as the furlough scheme, the self-employed income support scheme and bounce back loans. As the number of vaccinations increases, the fight against coronavirus will move to the economic front.

There is no question but that we have a moral responsibility to ensure that the safety net is as strong as possible, but we cannot be ignorant of the cost to the taxpayer. Maintaining the £20 uplift will require a significant tax hike, which will cost anyone earning £30,000 around £175 a year, and every driver an extra 5p per litre of fuel. Universal credit is just one tool for lifting families out of poverty for good. I am proud that, rather than just giving people money, this Government are putting their shoulder to schemes such as kickstart and restart, and are doubling the number of work coaches, who give people intensive support to get back to the workplace. This is how we tackle poverty and eradicate it for good.

It is a sorry situation that in the middle of a pandemic, the Labour party uses its time sowing uncertainty and confusion. Constituents have already been in touch with me to ask whether tonight’s vote will reduce the money they can expect to receive this week. I want to be very clear: it does not. The Opposition should be thoroughly ashamed of playing on the fears of those whom they seek to represent.

I will take no lessons from the Labour party on poverty. According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, even before the pandemic, one in four people in Wales lived in poverty, including 140,000 children. Welsh Labour has run Wales for 21 years, and still, in the words of the First Minister himself, we are “older, poorer and sicker”, so I will take no lectures from it on poverty.