Therese Coffey was caught on camera singing karaoke to ‘The Time Of My Life’ in the early hours of Wednesday morning as her government department cut the Universal Credit uplift.
The work and pensions secretary seemed to be enjoying herself as she stood on stage with welfare minister Will Quince at around 1am during the annual Conservative Party conference.
Her singalong was filmed just an hour after the £20-a-week cut came into action, as 5.8 million people on the benefits scheme will be hit.
The uplift was introduced to help ease financial concerns for those on Universal Credit throughout the pandemic, but the government now believes removing it will incentivise people to get back to work.
However, the reduction has been described as the “biggest overnight cut to benefits in history” by independent think tank Resolution Foundation.
People weren’t exactly delighted to see the Cabinet minister singing on the very day the cuts came into action.
Jonathan Reynolds, shadow minister, told Sky News: “The secretary of state singing that she is having ‘the time of her life’ while making families £1,000 a year worse off today is frankly an insult and a disgrace.
“It is not too late for the government to reverse this disastrous decision, support struggling families and cancel this cut.”
Fellow Labour MP Zarah Sultana tweeted that Coffey’s behaviour was “disgusting” while Labour’s Nadia Whittome tweeted: “Do you know who aren’t having the time of their lives? The six million low income families whose Universal Credit she’s just cut by £1,000.”
Labour also planned to drive a van around the Tory conference venue in Manchester at the time of prime minister Boris Johnson’s keynote speech with the words: “Cancel the cut.”