DOUGLAS Ross has defended the “callous” cut to Universal Credit (UC) which will plunge thousands of Scottish children into poverty.
The Scottish Tory leader was probed on the removal of the £20 per week uplift to UC payments on October 6 during an interview on BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show.
Ross, who is due to make a speech at a Tory party conference fringe event later on Sunday, said that the uplift was only “temporary” and now that the country is through the worst of the pandemic it is time to “reassess”.
The SNP’s shadow work and pensions secretary David Linden launched a campaign last week in a bid to stop the “cruel and callous” cuts from going ahead.
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He says it will leave half a million Scots over £1000 poorer overnight.
Ross was probed on his view on the Universal Credit cut by the BBC’s Martin Geissler on Sunday morning.
Geissler pointed out that in Ross’s upcoming speech, he is set to claim the SNP have “lost the working class of Scotland” and the Tories are now the party of the working class – just as they are set to remove the £20 lifeline benefit.
Ross replied: “It was the Conservatives that introduced that temporary uplift at the height of the pandemic, when we were under some of the most difficult circumstances, people's lives were restricted in ways no one could ever imagine they would be here in the United Kingdom.
“But as we’ve come through the pandemic, we’re still dealing with Covid but the worst of it is hopefully behind us, it's right that we reasses and look at the measures that are in place to protect people and support people going forward.”
Ross is currently in Manchester for the three-day Tory conference
Geissler responded by pointing out the energy crisis, rising heating bills, the imminent end to furlough and reports that inflation may rise to 4% by Christmas. The host asked if it was the right time to “take much needed money off the very poorest”.
Ross said: “Well this is also the time that the UK Government has announced an additional half £500 million to support the most vulnerable over the next few months, because it is, it is going to be really difficult in the run up to winter and through the winter months…”
Geissler interrupted and asked why the uplift couldn’t be left in place as it is “working very well”, citing Citizen Advice Scotland who have said the cut will plunge 20,000 children into poverty.
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Ross said: “As I say it was always going to be a temporary uplift and I campaigned for the extension when we were still living under the real tough restrictions that we had over the last few months, but as these restrictions have eased in Scotland and across the United Kingdom we have to look at other measures to protect people…”
Asked what he would say to someone set to lose their £20 uplift, who may have to choose between “heating and eating”, Ross said: “The Scottish Government will now have an additional £41m to spend over the next few months to support people as a result of the package the Chancellor announced this week of half a billion pounds of additional support across the United Kingdom, to support those most in need right across our country.”
SNP MSP Neil Gray (pictured) said: "While the First Minister and SNP Government are focused on navigating through this pandemic and working to protect people's livelihoods, Douglas Ross and the Scottish Tories continue to fall into line behind Boris Johnson to impose devastating policies that will push people into hardship and poverty.
"At the elections in May, the SNP won by a landslide with the biggest share of the vote in the history of devolution.
"And in the first 100 days in Government alone, the SNP has taken steps delivering on people's priorities including towards the creation of a National Care Service to improve social care for everyone who needs it, free school lunches for more than 90,000 children, free NHS dental care for all young people under 26 years old, and other measures to support households and businesses.
"In stark contrast, the only plan on offer from Douglas Ross is to continue backing Boris Johnson's harmful policies against Scotland's will, including an extreme Tory Brexit - which has led to the fuel crisis, empty supermarket shelves, and severe labour shortages - and callous cuts to Universal Credit."
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