Dame Angela Eagle MP Standing up for Wallasey
On Wednesday 11th July, Labour had an Opposition Day debate in response to the farcical behaviour of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Esther McVey. The motion was to censure the Secretary of State, and also that she should lose four weeks of her ministerial pay over the mess. Although the Tories said that this was a personal attack and they did not think it was appropriate, it is the only motion that gets the Tories voting. In every other single Opposition Day debate, the Tories ignore Parliamentary convention and refuse to vote, unless there is a censure motion being put forward.
The row around Universal Credit intensified after a report published in June by the National Audit Office (NAO) savaged the benefit. They said that there is no evidence that universal credit helps people back into work, and that it has been so poorly managed that it is unlikely to ever deliver value for money. McVey has continued to defend the roll out of Universal Credit.
The Auditor General of the NAO took the extraordinary step on Wednesday, 4th July of writing an open letter to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions taking issue with a number of the claims made in her response to the report.
Esther McVey ‘apologised’ on 4th July for ‘inadvertently misleading’ the House in saying that the roll out of Universal Credit should be speeded up, and was called to the House for an Urgent Question on 5th July. However, she once again failed to apologise on the remaining two points raised by the Head of the NAO.
I spoke in the debate on Wednesday, and reminded the Secretary of State of the damning evidence presented in the NAO report, and the experiences of many people in Wallasey who are struggling on Universal Credit, despite the roll out only being 13% complete. The Wirral Foodbank has seen usage go up 35% in the first five months of 2018, as more and more families are transitioned onto Universal Credit. Almost 50,000 three day emergency food packages were given out, with nearly 15,000 going to children.
Universal Credit is attacking the vulnerable and punishing the poor. Four in ten claimants have experienced financial hardship as a result of the roll out, and one in five claimants do not receive their full payment on time.
It is now time to pause the roll out of Universal Credit and fix it, so that it is a benefit that is fit for purpose.
Watch the video below for more ↓
On Wednesday, Labour had an Opposition Day debate in response to the farcical behaviour of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Esther McVey. The motion was to censure the Secretary of State, and also that she should lose four weeks of her ministerial pay over the mess. Although the Tories said that this was a personal attack and they did not think it was appropriate, it is the only motion that gets the Tories voting. In every other single Opposition Day debate, the Tories ignore Parliamentary convention and refuse to vote, unless there is a censure motion being put forward. The row around Universal Credit intensified after a report published in June by the National Audit Office (NAO) savaged the benefit. They said that there is no evidence that universal credit helps people back into work, and that it has been so poorly managed that it is unlikely to ever deliver value for money. McVey has continued to defend the roll out of Universal Credit.The Auditor General of the NAO took the extraordinary step on Wednesday, 4th July of writing an open letter to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions taking issue with a number of the claims made in her response to the report.Esther McVey ‘apologised’ on 4th July for ‘inadvertently misleading’ the House in saying that the roll out of Universal Credit should be speeded up, and was called to the House for an Urgent Question on 5th July. However, she once again failed to apologise on the remaining two points raised by the Head of the NAO.I spoke in the debate on Wednesday, and reminded the Secretary of State of the damning evidence presented in the NAO report, and the experiences of many people in Wallasey who are struggling on Universal Credit, despite the roll out only being 13% complete. The Wirral Foodbank has seen usage go up 35% in the first five months of 2018, as more and more families are transitioned onto Universal Credit. Almost 50,000 three day emergency food packages were given out, with nearly 15,000 going to children. Universal Credit is attacking the vulnerable and punishing the poor. Four in ten claimants have experienced financial hardship as a result of the roll out, and one in five claimants do not receive their full payment on time. It is now time to pause the roll out of Universal Credit and fix it, so that it is a benefit that is fit for purpose.Watch the video below for more ↓
Posted by Angela Eagle on Monday, July 16, 2018