Why Rishi Sunak should keep the Universal Credit uplift

Chancellor Rishi Sunak agreed to sit down with Andrew Neil on GB News last night for what turned out to be a fairly brutal grilling. The Chancellor floundered under interrogation on the pensions triple-lock, the cost of climate-friendly policies and the Tories’ big-government instincts. However, one of the more uncomfortable moments came when Neil pressed him on the future of the £20 weekly Universal Credit uplift. The benefit supplement, which also applies to the basic element in Working Tax Credit, was introduced at the start of the pandemic because the government acknowledged that the coming recession would inflict particular hardship on those already on the lowest incomes.

Announcing the 12-month increase last March, the Chancellor said: ‘I cannot promise you that no one will face hardship in the weeks ahead, so we will also act to protect you if the worst happens.’ That meant, he said, taking measures ‘to strengthen the safety net’, citing the uplift by way of example.