ACTION NEEDED TO ADDRESS UK’S SHOCKING POVERTY LEVELS

With the UK Government refusing to make the £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit permanent, I challenged the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to reveal what alternative and additional measures she plans to introduce to tackle poverty. Poverty shamefully affects 30% of children in the UK, and removing the £20 uplift will push a further 60,000 people in Scotland below the breadline, including 20,000 children.

Before the pandemic, a majority of people in poverty were in a household where at least one person had a job, so the Secretary of State’s claim of a plan for jobs will be of no help to those trapped in poverty by Britain’s broken welfare system and chronic low pay.

You can watch the exchange below.