What a load of rubbish! The Tories know full well that their £20 per week cut to Universal Credit will push key workers and hard-working families to the food bank queue.

Research by Citizen’s Advice estimates that cutting Universal Credit could push more than two million people into debt. The cut risks a perfect storm for lower income families; the cut would coincide with the end of the furlough scheme and the raising of the Energy Cap, raising energy bills at the start of winter in a city where fuel poverty is already a major issue. The timing of this could simply not be worse.

For all the rhetoric of aiming to raise living standards by getting people into work, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, you will well know that more than 1 in 3 people receiving Universal Credit are already in work. Therefore, for thousands of people in East Hull, this benefit serves to top-up inadequate wages. Many claimants are also not in a position to seek work, due to health conditions or caring responsibilities.