We have to oppose the end of the universal credit uplift

Perhaps some Conservative MPs think £20 is just change you find down the back of the sofa, rather than important for many, writes Katy Brand

Labour has said they will oppose the reversal of the £20 top-up, and I hope they do so as aggressively as possible (Getty/iStock)

Have you ever done a supermarket shop with £20 in your pocket and nothing more? I have and I was surprised at how much you can buy. Or could buy if you were more responsible than I was, aged 25. I didn’t get the best out of that £20, let me tell you. Nobody needs a whole chocolate trifle (serves 4), let alone several.

But now I am older with responsibilities galore, and mouths to feed other than my own, so I would spend that £20 a lot more wisely. I would hope to spend it more like many of the good parents on Universal Credit have been doing since the government agreed to increase welfare benefit by this amount during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many have found it an absolute godsend.

So when it was confirmed this week that there was no plan to extend the £20 top-up scheme beyond the autumn, there was an outpouring of anger from many who are in work that does not pay enough to live on, and have come to rely on the extra cash.