Joe Brolly has hit out at Boris Johnson and his government over a cut to benefits in the UK.
A £20-per-week uplift to Universal Credit that was introduced at the start of the coronavirus pandemic ended on Wednesday, leaving recipients £1,040 worse off per year.
Brolly tweeted "Cruel Britannia" as he retweeted the following message: "Tomorrow 4.4 million households, with 5.1m adults and 3.5m children, will see their incomes fall by £1,000 overnight. For 1 million households that will mean an immediate loss of over 10% of their income as we take the basic rate of benefits to its lowest level since 1990."
A number of Universal Credit recipients have said that the cut will leave them struggling.
Charlotte, a single parent from Northern Ireland, described how important the £20 has been for her and her two children.
She said: "I rely on [the £20 uplift] so much. I have so many new expenses since my daughter started secondary school…I don’t think the government who make all these decisions about whether or not to keep the £20 uplift going has considered what we actually need it for. Its a real struggle financially at the minute."
Shona Louise, a self-employed writer and theatre photographer, told the PA news agency: “I’m self-employed whilst receiving Universal Credit and it helps patch over the gap created by the fact that I’m not able to work full-time hours due to my disability.
“This will just put more pressure on me to stretch myself thin to find more work… I’m already pushing myself to work beyond my limits as it is, but the cut will increase this pressure massively.”
Meanwhile, the British Psychological Society (BPS) said the cut will have “devastating consequences” for people’s mental health.
Julia Faulconbridge, from the BPS’ division of clinical psychology commented: “Cutting Universal Credit at a time of such uncertainty and difficulty will seriously damage the health, wellbeing and life chances of the most vulnerable.
“This decision will see health inequalities widen, placing more pressure on our already stretched and underfunded public services, as well as intensifying the mental health difficulties of people already struggling with rising debts, reduced income and soaring living costs.
“We have to question the Government’s commitment to ‘levelling up’ when the reduction in benefits risks cutting millions of families adrift at a time when they need support the most.”
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