Cllr Denise Mullen: Most Vulnerable Cannot Be Subjected To Tory Cutbacks To Universal Credit!
Responding to proposed cuts to the Universal Credit of £20 per week, Aontú Deputy Leader & Cllr for Mid Ulster, Denise Mullen, has hit out at a proposed £20 cut to the Universal Credit which would hit the most vulnerable hardest.
Cllr Mullen: “It really is quite incredible to learn that at a time of worsening equality in the North, there are proposals to cut Universal Credit – pushing at least 11,000 children into poverty, at a time when hundreds of thousands currently reside in poverty. Between 2020, over 31,000 food parcels were provided to children in the North. In 2020, the Trussell Trust charity provided over 78,000 parcels to children and adults. This is a 75% increase on figures for 2019 – 2020. 303,000 people are living in absolute poverty in the North. 350,000 live in relative income poverty. That represents over 650,000 people in the North living in either relative or absolute poverty. Why now are the proposals to cut the already bare-bone supports so relied upon by those in need? Where are the Stormont Establishment parties? Silent, as Tories in Westminster, make cutbacks to their gain and at the expense of those most in need. Stormont and its constituent parties are ignoring the rampant inequality, poverty and economic hardship crippling so many of our communities. This cannot continue.”
