Labour to scrap ‘unmitigated disaster’ of Universal Credit

CHINGFORD: Universal Credit (UC) would be scrapped under Labour plans to replace the Tories’ flagship welfare reforms with a social security system to support jobseekers with “dignity and respect”.Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called the much-criticised reforms an “unmitigated disaster” as he outlined proposals to depart from a system designed to “punish and police”. The benefit cap and two-child limit would be immediately ditched, which Labour says would bring 300,000 children out of poverty.The punitive sanctions regime criticised for forcing people to use food banks would also be scrapped if Labour won a general election. Charities welcomed significant reform but warned against “further upheaval”, as the Tories rejected the proposals outright.Announcing the reforms on Saturday, Corbyn told a crowd of supporters that the welfare state had been “sliced apart, cut apart and destroyed”.“Universal Credit drives people into debt by a five week wait,” the Labour leader told reporters following his speech. “The two-child policy means that the largest families often have the poorest children, who achieve the least at school. And the stress involved in Universal Credit, and the cost of its administration, is massive. What we’re saying is end the two-child policy, end the capability for work assessment test.”Corbyn claimed that Universal Credit had led to an “explosion in food banks, rough sleeping and terrible levels of debt”.The Labour leader announced the plans during a rally in the Chingford and Woodford Green constituency held by Universal Credit architect and former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith.The plans also include ending the system’s “digital-only” requirement, which Labour says excludes people who cannot access the internet or lack computer literacy, by recruiting an additional 5,000 advisers.The five-week wait, described by Corbyn as causing “so much misery and suffering”, would also go, with an automatic interim payment and a switch to fortnightly payments.The Conservatives branded Labour’s plans as “totally irresponsible”. Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey said: “It’s reckless, political point scoring from a party that spent years trapping people on benefits and holding them back from the opportunities that would help them build a better future for them and their families.”She said the Tories acknowledge “there is more to do to make the system work better”, pointing towards the recent increase to the amount people can earn before their benefits are reduced. Shelter chief executive Polly Neate said she backs proposals “to slash the five-week wait”, but added they “need to see politicians address the elephant in the room - working families simply can’t afford their rent”.

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