Esther McVey has refused to apologise for problems in the Universal Credit benefits system during an awkward on-air clash.
The former work and pensions secretary – who is bidding to become the next Tory party leader – claimed the crisis-hit benefit ”has the support of all parties in the House [of Commons]” – despite a cross-party report criticising the scheme.
A Commons select committee found last October that the introduction of the system caused “unacceptable hardship and difficulties” for many of the people it was designed to help.
When challenged about the roll-out of Universal Credit during an interview on LBC, McVey repeatedly failed to acknowledge she could have done more to ensure vulnerable people were not adversely affected by changes.
Presenter Nick Ferrari asked McVey six times whether she would apologise for failures which saw thousands of claimants go without money and which led to a documented increase in foodbank use.
But each time the MP for Tatton, who was in charge of the Department for Work and Pensions between January and November 2018, refused to say sorry.
“In comparison to the benefits system that was there before, this has done a lot more to help people,” McVey said. “This is a very generous benefits system.”
McVey claimed the previous benefits system under Labour saw the number of workless households “double”. “The benefits bill had gone up by 65%,” she added.
“So what we sought to do was make sure that we supported the most vulnerable. Which is what we’re doing. But at the same time, allow people who can work, who want to work, get into work. And that’s why we have a thousand more people each and every day into work,” McVey said.
Ferrari interjected: “I’m not questioning your motives, I’m questioning the execution. Do you apologise for the way it was introduced and how some people were left without money seeking benefits and were made worse off, do you apologise for that?”
McVey said: “That’s why, before me, because obviously, I wasn’t in government when those changes were brought in. George Osborne’s changes taking money out of the system, I actually fought to bring more money into the system. I made sure more money came in... I also introduced something called Disability Confident which I designed, working with disabled people, and that’s now got nearly a million disabled people into work.”
Universal Credit replaces six existing benefits into a single monthly payment but has been beset by problems and the subject of multiple government u-turns.
Earlier this year, the current work and pensions secretary, Amber Rudd, admitted flaws in the new system caused people to seek emergency food parcels from food banks.