A Tory bigwig has torpedoed his own party by claiming they imposed the cruel benefit cap just to win votes, not save money.
The £26,000-a-year limit was introduced by then-Chancellor George Osborne in 2013 supposedly to help pay debt from the 2008 financial crash.
Two years later the cap was lowered to £20,000 outside London and £23,000 in the capital, meaning 190,000 people across the UK lost out on benefits.
Savings were barely £190million – just over 0.1% of the £177billion welfare bill. Now ex-Welfare Reform minister Lord Freud says labelling the cap an austerity measure was a sham.
He claims Mr Osborne’s chief of staff Rupert Harrison told him: “I know it doesn’t make much in the way of savings but when we tested the policy it polled off the charts. We’ve never had such a popular policy.”
Lord Freud told peers Chancellor Rishi Sunak should use the £25billion he has spare to scrap the cap. He said: “I urge him to use a small proportion of that to alleviate the real hardship suffered by our very poorest citizens.”
The cap must be reviewed but ministers refuse to say when.
Meanwhile it is the likes of divorced mum Sally Worrall, 31, from Havant, Hants, and her children Chester, 10, Rory, eight, and twins Jenson and Molly, five, who suffer.
Sally said: “The cap has been heartbreaking for me and my children. I couldn’t find £750 a month rent so went into arrears. It was feed the kids or pay the rent. The only Government support I got was to show me the way to food banks.”
Ex-Tesco worker Sally wants a part-time job but cannot afford childcare.
Victoria Benson, of single parent family charity Gingerbread, said: “The benefit cap is a draconian policy which unfairly affects single parents.
“The Government must end it or more vulnerable families will be plunged into devastating poverty.”
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “While Conservative MPs pocket millions in second jobs, the Government is taking money out of the poorest households, presiding over a cost-of-living crisis.”
Ex-Treasury aide Mr Harrison did not comment. The DWP said: “The cap balances fairness for taxpayers with providing a vital safety net.”
