Latest updates: internal government report says next month’s universal credit cut will have ‘catastrophic’ impact, report says
Labour has criticised Priti Patel’s plan to allow Border Force staff to force boats carrying migrants in the English Channel back into French waters. In a statement Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow home secretary, said:
Turning boats around at sea in the world’s busiest shipping channel is dangerous and risks lives.
The home secretary has failed to tackle the vile criminal gangs who are profiting from people smuggling and this should be her focus, along with securing an effective deal with France and safe and legal routes.
According to a report in the Financial Times (paywall), the government’s own internal analysis of its decision to cut universal credit from the start of October (by ending the temporary £20-per-week uplift introduced during the pandemic) says the impact will be “catastrophic”. The paper says:
A well-placed Whitehall official said the government’s own analysis highlighted the deep impact of reversing the change. “The internal modelling of ending the UC uplift is catastrophic. Homelessness and poverty are likely to rise, and food banks usage will soar. It could be the real disaster of the autumn.”
One minister warned that the political backlash over universal credit, which is claimed by 6m people, was likely to be more serious for prime minister Boris Johnson than the debate about social care.
This cut will impose the biggest overnight cut to the basic rate of social security since the foundation of the modern welfare state.
Our analysis has shown that 6 million low-income families will lose £1,040 from their annual income, creating serious financial hardship and leave 500,000 people to be swept into poverty – including 200,000 children. Families with children will be disproportionately impacted and worryingly, 6 in 10 of all single-parent families in the UK will be impacted.
