UK Government must reverse decision to scrap Universal Credit uplift as household budgets tighten

Energy companies are going bust on a daily basis, petrol stations have queues round the block and supermarkets are struggling to fill their shelves.

We can argue over who is ultimately to blame, whether it’s a lack of HGV drivers or the UK’s decision to sell off its excess gas storage facilities.

But what is undeniable is it’s the general public who end up paying for the cost of this mess.

And the least well-off in society are the ones who are fleeced most of all.

When you have little cash to begin with, you feel every increase in your monthly bills that little bit more.

At a time when household budgets are being squeezed tight, it makes the UK Government’s decision to end the Universal Credit uplift look even worse.

Cutting £20 a month doesn’t sound like much if you’re lucky enough to have a good wage coming in every month.

But removing £1040 a year from the budgets of the poorest is simply cruel.

On top of rising fuel bills and food costs, it’s estimated the worst-off Scots will see their budgets squeezed by £100 each month.

That’s a fortune to some people and the kind of money they simply cannot afford to lose.

There is still time for the UK Government to reverse this dreadful cut and do the decent thing.

It could listen to anti-poverty campaigners and numerous Conservative Party members who all agree this is a terrible move.

The Universal Credit uplift must not be scrapped.

Long hello may lure lost voters

World Cup finals have been settled in less time than it took Keir Starmer to deliver his first speech to a Labour conference yesterday.

But having lost so much of his time as leader to the coronavirus crisis, Starmer can be forgiven for giving the public a long hello.

At 90 minutes, his speech covered many issues and was open and deeply personal.

Labour party leader Sir Keir Starmer delivers his keynote speech at the Labour Party conference in Brighton (PA)

What the electorate saw was a serious politician – unlike the man he hopes to replace in Downing Street.

There is now no doubt about who Starmer actually is or what he stands for and he will hope his long address resonated with lost Labour voters.

One speech will not change the party’s fortunes but Starmer has taken a step in the right direction to show Labour may have a chance of ousting the Tories.

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