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Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies is heckled by universal credit protesters as his party cuts welfare payments for the poorest.

Tory MSs defend the cut by saying that there’s a “million jobs” available for those affected, even though over 100,000 Universal Credit claimants in Wales are already in work.

The cut will hit 275,000 households in Wales, with thousands of the poorest children affected, wiping £1040 off their annual income.

Image: Protesters heckle Tory MSs as they enter The Senedd on Wednesday, by Tom Davies.

A protest was held today outside The Senedd against the proposed cut to Universal Credit, which anti-poverty groups say will affect some 42% of households with children in Wales. 

The cut will hit people who receive Universal Credit or working tax credits from October, leading to an acceleration of the poverty crisis as people see already squeezed budgets plummet by £80 a month. 

During the protest, Andrew RT Davies, the Welsh Tory leader whose party is bringing in the reduction, was heckled by protesters who said the party had “no conscience and no compassion” as he walked into The Senedd. 

The reply from Davies and his colleagues was to imply that Universal Credit claimants were lazy and workshy. 

“We’ve just spoken to the Conservative MSs, their only comeback was that there was a million jobs out there…no conscience and no compassion,” said Sue Leader, of Unite Community, who organised the protest. A voice.wales photographer who was at the protest also heard the jibe. 

According to the TUC, 104,000 of those in receipt of Universal Credit in Wales are already working. The cut also affects those in receipt of working tax credit.  

In total, 275,000 households in Wales will see £1,040 wiped off their annual income. The cut is reversing a £20 uplift in the benefit that came in at the start of the pandemic. 

The uplift was introduced “partly as a recognition that the rates previously just weren’t enough to live off,” according to Ellie Harwood, co chair of the Anti-Poverty Coalition, who told voice.wales that the £20 per week uplift had helped some families eat healthier, afford to heat their homes or even access WiFi for the first time. 

“The converse of that is that it’s now going to be taken away,” she said. “Lots of people now are in a place where they’re having to think well, how am I going to manage? What am I going to do? How am I going to cope when I’m already living on a very low income.” 

The protest outside the Welsh Parliament on Wednesday was organised by Unite Community, a branch of one of Britain’s biggest trade unions set up to organise those who are not in employment. 

In Wales, the branch has previously campaigned against the Bedroom Tax and other austerity measures.  

The planned Universal Credit cut would be amongst the worst cuts to hit those on the lowest incomes. 

Sue Leader, Unite Community branch secretary, told voice.wales that the effects of the cut would be devastating.

“I think the first thing to happen is the weekly food shop will be cut back on, along with heating and light,” she said. “Then we’ll see evictions, it will be a shitshow… It’s heartless” 

Image: Unite Community members at the protest today, by Tom Davies

The Senedd is debating the issue today. Welfare is not devolved however, and the cut is ultimately coming from Tory UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak. Sunak also happens to be Britain’s richest MP, who together with his multi millionaire wife owns four properties, including one in London worth £7millon. 

Unite Community also held a protest outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster on Wednesday, where MPs were due to debate the cut. 

Jane Hutt, Welsh Government’s Minister for Social Justice, has written a joint letter with other devolved governments to the UK Govt urging them to reverse the planned cut. 

The letter described the cut as the “biggest overnight reduction to a basic rate of social security since the modern welfare state began, more than 70 years ago.” 

“Failing to maintain the recent uplift to Universal Credit will increase hardship and poverty for people who are already struggling,” the letter said. 

Speaking to voice.wales on Tuesday, Ellie Harwood, co-chair of the Anti Poverty Coalition, said that the cut would have far-ranging consequences for those affected. 

“The cut is going to reduce the value of benefits to such an extent that is going to be very, very difficult for most households who need this help to be able to just afford, you know, the essentials of life.”

She said that just as laptops for the poorest children had finally arrived as part of a Welsh Government scheme to make home learning possible, some households would be forced to cancel their wifi.  

“The money that they were using for that [wifi contract] is not going to come in anymore. So people you know, will be at risk of falling into debt into arrears, but also just being disconnected.”

Ms Harwood said that whilst Welsh Government didn’t have the power to stop the cut, and have opposed the mesures, it could do more to help those in poverty in Wales. 

“Are they putting in place the kind of mechanisms that we need to see that will support people affected by this cut? Perhaps not,” she said, pointing to a recent decision to cut back the discretionary assistance fund in Wales to pre-pandemic levels. 

Throughout Covid, this Welsh Government fund has allowed the most vulnerable people to make up to five claims worth around £60 per year on a less strict criteria, but will become much harder to access in future. 

Mark Drakeford did make a public appeal to Rishi Sunak in August to retain the £20 uplift in Universal Credit, but has not used his position to apply pressure on the Tory government in Westminster more recently. 

Sue Leader, who organised today’s action outside the Senedd, also said Mark Drakeford’s government must do more to stem the growing poverty crisis. 

“We know the £20 is not in their remit to retain,” she said. “But free school meals are.” 

“We’re asking Welsh Government to aid people on Universal Credit, we want them to mitigate the £20 that’s going to be taken away with things like healthy school meals. We want them to raise the threshold that people can claim free school meals.”

Welsh Government has repeatedly voted down measures to extend free school meals, despite research showing that Wales denies more children in poverty a free school meal than any other UK nation. 

“It costs [a parental guardian] about £15.00 for each child a week to have school lunches,” said Ms Leader, adding that even parents who earn “pennies over” the £7,400 threshold to qualify for free lunches still have to pay the full cost of school lunches. 

In Wales, being on Universal Credit doesn’t automatically qualify parental guardians to claim for free school meals. 

“Shouldn’t we be a fair society?” she said. “Especially in Wales where we have a tradition of being at the forefront of fighting and winning rights for the working class, by the working class.”

More actions around the Universal Credit cut and food poverty are being planned for 30th September at 6pm in Bute Park Stone Circle.