35,668 PEOPLE IN FIFE HIT BY TORY PLANS TO CUT UNIVERSAL CREDIT
Published date : 22 Jan 2021
LOCAL TORY MSPS URGED TO BACK U-TURN ON REMOVAL OF £20 UPLIFT
Tory MSPs have been urged to back a U-turn on Tory plans to cut Universal Credit in the middle of an economic crisis – after new figures revealed that Boris Johnson’s plan to remove the £20 per week uplift in April would hit around 36,000 people in Fife.
Latest statistics show that in November 2020 there were 35,668 people claiming Universal Credit in Fife in November. If all these people remain on Universal Credit until April, then they will be affected by the removal of the £20 uplift.
The SNP has repeatedly called on the Westminster Tory government to maintain the £20 boost to Universal Credit and extend it to legacy benefits – yet all six Scottish Tory MPs abstained on a vote which would have ensured that.
Anti-poverty think-tank the Resolution Foundation estimates that the cut to Universal Credit by £20 a week could see the incomes of low-income families fall by more than four per cent (4%) and plunge a further 820,000 children into poverty across the UK.
SNP MSP for Mid Fife and Glenrothes, Jenny Gilruth said:
“By slashing social security payments by £1,000 a year, in the middle of an economic crisis, the Tories could push around 36,000 people here in Fife further into hardship and poverty.
“There must be an immediate U-turn on this, to avoid worsening poverty and inequality across the country during the Covid-19 crisis – and I would urge local MSPs to support this.
“Although the SNP government has led the way in tackling poverty, with new benefits like the Scottish Child Payment and a social security system based on dignity and respect, this progress is being severely undermined by Tory cuts.
“It is crucial that the £20 uplift to Universal Credit is made permanent and extended to legacy benefits, as part of a wider package to boost incomes after a decade of damaging Tory austerity cuts.
“Scotland shouldn’t have to wait for Westminster to act to protect the incomes of the most vulnerable in our society. The only way to secure a strong, fair and equal recovery is for Scotland to become an independent country – with the full powers needed to build a fairer society.”
ENDS
Notes:
Month
November 2020 (p)
National – Regional – LA – OAs
Scotland
474881
Aberdeen City
17829
Aberdeenshire
14189
Angus
9511
Argyll and Bute
6238
City of Edinburgh
36735
Clackmannanshire
5379
Dumfries and Galloway
11720
Dundee City
16413
East Ayrshire
13642
East Dunbartonshire
6113
East Lothian
9540
East Renfrewshire
4508
Falkirk
13910
Fife
35668
Glasgow City
71019
Highland
19827
Inverclyde
8960
Midlothian
8448
Moray
6466
Na h-Eileanan Siar
1536
North Ayrshire
15558
North Lanarkshire
33766
Orkney Islands
997
Perth and Kinross
10237
Renfrewshire
15462
Scottish Borders
8332
Shetland Islands
1151
South Ayrshire
10459
South Lanarkshire
29478
Stirling
6815
West Dunbartonshire
9302
West Lothian
15675
Total
474881
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