New Islington Labour analysis reveals the staggering cost of the Tories’ Universal Credit cut to local families. The cut, which will see 11,515 recipients of Universal Credit lose £1,040 a year, a total of nearly £12 million per year for local people.

At a time when inflation is rising and many people are still struggling financially due to the pandemic, the Tory Government is going to cut £20 per week from payments to Universal Credit claimants. The amount of claimants in Islington has risen due to the pandemic and while Islington’s Labour-run Council is supporting them, the Tory Government is taking support away.

The analysis comes as Conservative MPs refused to back a Labour motion in the House of Commons to ditch the cut and hundreds of Islington residents have signed a petition calling for the cut to be cancelled.

Cllr Satnam Gill, Executive Member for Finance and Performance, said:

“We’re still in this crisis. Families in Islington are desperately struggling to get back on their feet, yet this government wants to kick their legs out from under them.

 

“Whacking families with a £1,000 cut in support won’t just hurt them, it will hammer the local economy too. These proposals will take food off the table and nearly £12m out of the local economy.

 

“Yet at the same time as the Conservatives hammer working people we know that they can find £2bn for crony contracts for their friends and donors. That tells you everything you need to know about whose side this government is really on – and it’s not families here in Islington.”

Sign Islington Labour’s petition here to say no to the Tories’ Universal Credit cut.