Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit

Gagan Mohindra Excerpts

Monday 18th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con) [V]]

I congratulate the Minister for welfare delivery on his opening statement and on the work that he and his Department have done to make sure that our most vulnerable have the safety net that universal credit provides. I also take this opportunity to congratulate and give credit to my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith), who pioneered universal credit. It is worth repeating, as the Minister said, that if we had relied on the old system, the likelihood is that it would have fallen over during the global pandemic, so that credit needs to be recognised. Following on with that theme, we can look back to March, when the Chancellor was so proactive and reactive to the global pandemic to ensure that our residents and constituents had the support that was necessary. These were unprecedented times and I congratulate the Chancellor on that.

In my constituency, I have 2,800 people on universal credit. That has more than doubled compared with pre-covid times. The temporary universal credit uplift was part of the armoury of support that the Government have given. One point that I want to stress to the House is that language is really important. If we as a Government and policy makers introduce things temporarily, but there is an expectation that it will be permanent, that will have a significant impact on finances.

At the Budget in just over six weeks is absolutely the right time to be having this conversation. We cannot look at policy making on a stand-alone, piecemeal basis, as the Opposition motion proposes. The £280 billion-worth of measures that have been introduced since the start of the pandemic is unprecedented. One thing that really worries me is how we will look to afford it. It is worth reiterating that we as politicians and Members of the House are purely custodians of other people’s money—the taxpayers. We need to remain pragmatic, and the continued economic uncertainty means that leaving these decisions to 3 March is appropriate. I will leave it at that, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I look forward to the rest of the debate.