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'This is levelling down': Universal Credit recipient hits out at benefit cut

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By Tim Dodd

This single parent who is on Universal Credit tells James O'Brien the government's cutting it is "levelling down" and "waging a war on people like" her.

It comes as Labour will challenge Conservative MPs "to do the right thing" and back a vote calling for the Government to scrap its plans to cut Universal Credit.

Ministers have come under sustained pressure to reverse its decision to end the £20 uplift introduced to support families during the coronavirus pandemic.

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Hannah in Eltham, who is on Universal Credit, said: "I have never been in this position before, but partly due to mental health issues and giving up my corporate job, I found myself in this position.

"I get about £700 a month. I'm a single parent as well, and that's supposed to cover everything really.

"I think the Tories are just waging a war on people like me."

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James replied: "From where I am, it's a calculation, a gamble, that there aren't enough people in your position or enough people in my patronising middle class position of thinking how you're treated is appalling - there aren't enough of us combined to make a meaningful political difference."

"I'm very much middle class. I've got a mixture of private school and grammar education. Never thought I'd end up in this position," said the caller.

"You think about levelling up, this is levelling down."

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