Glasgow councillors row over Universal Credit cut

A £20 uplift — introduced in April last year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic — is set to be removed from October.

SNP councillor Ricky Bell said: “This brutal cut will thrust so many Glaswegian families into unmanageable poverty and yet again Boris’s boys in Glasgow are nowhere to be seen.

“Cllr Thomas Kerr and his gang are rarely short of opinions on anything apart from the devastating impact their party policies and actions have on ordinary Glaswegians, those already struggling under the strain of a decade of austerity.”

He added Tory councillors in Glasgow are “foot soldiers for the most toxic, right-wing administration in our history”.

Glasgow Tories group leader, Cllr Kerr, said UK Government investment in Scotland had totalled £14 billion since the start of the pandemic, and accused Cllr Bell of “deflection tactics”.

But Cllr Bell, the city treasurer, believes the Tories should explain to residents “why their party is cutting over £1000-a-year from our poorest and most hard-pressed families”.

He said the move would “wipe out the positive impact” of the Scottish Child Payment — a £10 per week payment for each child under 6 you look after.

“When it comes to defending virtually any of their own policies, the policies which affect the real lives of Glaswegians, there’s not a peep out of the city’s Tories.

“Here in Glasgow we’re providing food for children over the summer holidays, we’ve expanded free school meals quicker than anywhere else in Scotland, and increased school clothing grants to give families a better deal.”

Glasgow and the Scottish Government have to “defend our most vulnerable in the Tory’s war against them”, Cllr Bell added.

“Glasgow’s Tories can pretend this isn’t them. They can pretend Glasgow’s challenges are someone else’s problem. But the truth is they’re the Glasgow foot soldiers for the most toxic, right-wing administration in our history.

“This is on them. It’s time they owned being Tory and either speak up or shut up.”

In response, Cllr Kerr said: “The SNP deflection tactics are clear to see.

“They’d rather talk about Westminster than tackle the problems in Glasgow. While hundreds of people die every year from drugs in places like Possil and Springburn, all the SNP wants to do is focus on London. The city might not be in half the state it is if they focus on the job at hand.”

The Tory group leader said the furlough scheme, introduced by the UK Government, has safeguarded hundreds of thousands of Scottish jobs.

“The SNP Government’s own statistics released this week show in black and white the benefit of pooling resources across these islands, with Scots advantaged by a union dividend to the tune of £2,200 per person.

“By contrast, Cllr Bell’s SNP-led council has responded to the pandemic by taking £100 out of the pockets of pensioners in Glasgow by scrapping the affordable warmth dividend.

“His disastrous environmental policies have created a cleansing crisis on the streets of Glasgow, with bin collection cuts and a bulk uplift charge exacerbating our city’s fly tipping nightmare.”