Rishi Sunak has denied he is being “dogmatic” by sticking to the impending cut to Universal Credit, arguing that the government is “not done supporting people”.
The chancellor is under pressure to reverse his decision to end the £20-a-week uplift to Universal Credit as people struggle with higher energy bills and higher prices for goods.
But Sunak said it was “reasonable” that the benefit uplift was coming to its “natural end” and argued that it was only intended as a temporary measure.
He told BBC Radio 4: “We put in place a lot of things during the acute phase of coronavirus that were necessarily temporary - there’s things that are appropriate when you’re dealing with a hopefully once-in-a-century pandemic, and it’s reasonable that those things will come to a natural end.
“Whether it’s universal credit or indeed furlough, these things are coming to their end, but we’re not done supporting people.
“I don’t think anyone, given the support we’ve provided over the last year and a half, could accuse me or the government of being dogmatic or not wanting to support people, we just have a view about the best way to do that.”
The chancellor will give a speech to Tory party conference today in which he will unveil a £500m package to help people come off furlough and get back into work as the country recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.
Local councils will also be given £500m to support the most vulnerable households throughout the winter months.
The Conservatives have already begun hammering the message that wages are rising as the economy recovers, but already there are warnings that this could soon be outstripped by inflation.
Senior Conservative Jake Berry warned that families were being “kept up at night” by the higher costs of living and as the cut to Universal Credit approaches.
Berry, who chairs the Northern Research Group of MPs, said removing the £1,000-a-year uplift was going to be “really difficult for people”.
And he said that while wages were increasing in some sectors, they were not in all and prices for commodities were going up.
“If wages are going up at the same time as prices are going up - and the chancellor said yesterday inflation kept him up at night, I’m sure it keeps loads of families up at night who are managing their budget - then it will only work if the salary for all jobs goes up,” he said.
“And what we’re hearing about is certain sectors - transport and logistics, people working in the hospitality sector - their wages are going up but not necessarily everyone else.
“If your wage isn’t going up at the same time as prices are going up, you’re getting poorer aren’t you?”
The backdrop to Tory party conference has been set by rising food and energy prices and a high demand for petrol that has resulted in long queues at stations particularly in London and the south east.
A shortage in HGV lorry drivers has led to distribution problems with fuel and could also cause food supply issues this winter.
Sunak admitted there could be food shortages this Christmas and said that while the government would do its best to “mitigate” the problem, he could not “wave a magic wand” and make the problems disappear.
“It’s reasonable that people expect us to do what we can,” he told the BBC.
“But we can’t wave a magic wand and make global supply chain challenges disappear overnight.
“With regards to butchers, my understanding is that those are indeed on the shortage occupation list that we already have.”