Boris Johnson suggested today that Brits receiving Universal Credit should be “using their efforts” to claim fewer benefits.
The Prime Minister was grilled on plans to cut £20-a-week from the benefit, as Tory opposition to the move continues to mount.
The cut is due to ministers ending an 18-month, £20-a-week uplift brought in due to Covid last year.
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Dozens of Tory MPs oppose the cut, along with all major opposition parties in parliament and a number of charities including Citizens Advice, Crisis, Shelter and the StepChange debt charity.
But Mr Johnson claimed “most” people in Britain would like to see people’s “wages rise through their efforts” instead of claiming benefits.
That is despite the fact 2.3million Universal Credit claimants, or 40%, are already in a job.
Mr Johnson said: “My preference, my strong strong preference, and I believe this is the instinct of most people in this country, is for people to see their wages rise through their efforts - rather than from taxation of other people put into their pay packets, rather than welfare.”
“The key focus for this Government is on making sure that we come out of Covid strongly, with a jobs-led recovery.”
Two Tory MPs have penned a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to rethink the proposed cut, which is set to negatively hit the income of families in over 400 Government constituencies.
John Stevenson and Peter Aldous have told Mr Johnson that there are “no sensible voices” backing the scrap and urged the PM to keep the £20 a week payment in order to provide people with “security and stability.”
Citizens Advice workers are preparing for a surge in people seeking “crisis” support this Autumn due to a “triple whammy” of the cut, rising energy bills and the end to the furlough scheme on September 30.
Data from the Department of Work and Pensions released in February showed that around 170,000 people in Liverpool are currently claiming Universal Credit.
