Tuesday, July 06, 2021
Those revolting Tories continued
Tory MPs revolting against the government whip have been pretty rare since the 2019 General Election but there are signs that this particular breed is beginning to emerge from hibernation.
The Independent reports that a fresh Conservative revolt is threatening Rishi Sunak’s plans to slash £20 a week from universal credit payments in the autumn:
Six former work and pensions secretaries have joined forces to urge the chancellor to think again, in an unprecedented alliance spanning both left and right wings of the Tory party.
The pressure could see the government defeated on the controversy, with scores of “red wall” MPs also deeply unhappy about reversing an increase brought in when the Covid pandemic struck.
Ministers said recently that the £5bn cut will go ahead at the end of September, as intended, rejecting warnings that thousands of families will be pushed into poverty as “purely speculative”.
But Iain Duncan Smith, Damian Green, Stephen Crabb, David Gauke, Esther McVey and Amber Rudd have penned a letter to the Treasury, saying that would be a mistake.
“As the economy reopens, and the government re-evaluates where it has been spending money, we ask that the current funding for individuals in the universal credit envelope be kept at the current level,” they have written.
“We ask that you protect the investment in universal credit, to strengthen work incentives for those who can work and support more generously those who cannot work.”
The cut – worth £1,000 a year to many hard-up families – would hit 6 million households and push 200,000 more children below the breadline, the Child Poverty Action Group fears.
But the government has continued to insist it was a temporary increase and believes the looming end of Covid restrictions makes the case for ending it.
There is also a revolt forming over the Chancellor's £4bn-a-year overseas aid cuts, while changes to the planning laws are causing concern amongst Tory MPs as well. Perhaps there is hope for the country after all.
The Independent reports that a fresh Conservative revolt is threatening Rishi Sunak’s plans to slash £20 a week from universal credit payments in the autumn:
Six former work and pensions secretaries have joined forces to urge the chancellor to think again, in an unprecedented alliance spanning both left and right wings of the Tory party.
The pressure could see the government defeated on the controversy, with scores of “red wall” MPs also deeply unhappy about reversing an increase brought in when the Covid pandemic struck.
Ministers said recently that the £5bn cut will go ahead at the end of September, as intended, rejecting warnings that thousands of families will be pushed into poverty as “purely speculative”.
But Iain Duncan Smith, Damian Green, Stephen Crabb, David Gauke, Esther McVey and Amber Rudd have penned a letter to the Treasury, saying that would be a mistake.
“As the economy reopens, and the government re-evaluates where it has been spending money, we ask that the current funding for individuals in the universal credit envelope be kept at the current level,” they have written.
“We ask that you protect the investment in universal credit, to strengthen work incentives for those who can work and support more generously those who cannot work.”
The cut – worth £1,000 a year to many hard-up families – would hit 6 million households and push 200,000 more children below the breadline, the Child Poverty Action Group fears.
But the government has continued to insist it was a temporary increase and believes the looming end of Covid restrictions makes the case for ending it.
There is also a revolt forming over the Chancellor's £4bn-a-year overseas aid cuts, while changes to the planning laws are causing concern amongst Tory MPs as well. Perhaps there is hope for the country after all.
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