Oral Answers to Questions

Stuart C McDonald Excerpts

Wednesday 16th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

Academic and scientific freedom are an invaluable part of our country, and I note that my scientific colleagues would echo my sentiment that we need to learn to live with covid.

[Stuart C. McDonald (Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East) (SNP)]

  The Government’s two- child cap and childcare proof of payment rules mean that my hard-working constituent, Ms Cowan, who is a single parent on universal credit supporting four kids, faces £1,000 of nursery arrears. She is therefore at risk of losing the kids’ nursery places, as a result of which she would have to give up work and would therefore be at risk of sanction and forced further into debt and poverty. Can the Prime Minister help my constituent out of this trap and fix these rules that are pushing people out of work and into poverty?

[The Prime Minister]

I would be happy to study the case, but the whole point of universal credit, which this Government introduced, is that it is helping hundreds of thousands of people into work. That is its success.