
Ahead
of this week’s UK government budget, Angela Crawley MP is calling on Tory
Chancellor Rishi Sunak to provide the funds needed to lift the cruel benefit
cap.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people in Scotland who receive
social security and are subject to the cap has sky-rocketed.
Figures released last month by the Scottish Government have revealed that
between January 2020 and August 2020, the number of families in Scotland
subject to the cap nearly doubled from 3,300 to 6,400.
The true figure could be much higher as the pandemic has hit families across
Scotland hard.
Commenting, Angela said:
“Without doubt this pandemic has hit some of the poorest families the most and
Rishi Sunak must do all he can to protect jobs and livelihoods with his
statement.
“He must also provide funding to help families get back on their feet and
ensure people can access all of the financial support they are entitled to.
Ensuring the DWP lifts the benefit cap, and the abhorrent rape clause, to
provide families with the vital support they need will go a long way in doing
that.
“The benefit cap is a cruel, callous and uncaring Tory policy that
disadvantages some of the poorest families. I would urge the Chancellor to make
significant funding available to ensure this policy can go on no longer.
“If he does not then he will continue to the tale of two governments as in
Scotland we are building a social security system based on fairness, dignity
and respect which does not include punishing policies like the bedroom tax and
rape clause.
“Many families in Scotland will have been forced further into poverty because
of Sunak’s unwillingness to fill the gaps in his support schemes, so the true
figure of the number of people subject to the cap will be much higher.
“In May, the people of Scotland will have a choice, to either put their future
into the hands of Boris Johnson’s Tories or put their future into their own
hands with a post-pandemic referendum.”