A senior minister has been branded “heartless” after he ruled out increasing Universal Credit to help people cope with the cost of living crisis.
Chief secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke said the temporary £20 uplift in the benefit, which was introduced during the pandemic, “is not going to return”.
However, the prime minister’s official spokesman later refused to support the minister and insisted “all options are on the table” for how to help the least well-off cope with soaring bills.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith is among those calling for a hike in Universal Credit, which tops up the wages of the low paid.
But appearing on Radio Four’s Today programme, Clarke said: “On that question, we were always explicitly clear [the £20 uplift] was a temporary response to the pandemic.
“That is not going to return. The question is how we best now look at the next range of solutions to deal with the challenges we’re facing.”
Raising benefits is one of the measures the government is looking at as a way of tackling the cost of living crisis.
Asked if Clarke was correct to completely rule out the return of the Universal Credit uplift, the PM’s spokesman said: “My understanding is that we are keeping all our options open.”
Wendy Chamberlain, the Lib Dem spokesperson on work and pensions, accused ministers of “refusing to act”.
“This heartless approach will condemn thousands more children to growing up in poverty as the cost of living crunch bites,” she said.
“It shows just how out of touch this Conservative government is with all those struggling to get by.
“Ministers must announce an emergency budget now and reinstate the £20 uplift to Universal Credit. Every day they fail to act means more families being pushed into debt and struggling to put food on the table.”
The row came as the government continues to ponder whether to introduce a windfall tax on the huge profits being enjoyed by oil and gas companies.
Speaking at a school in south-west London, Boris Johnson said: “No option is off the table, let’s be absolutely clear about that.
“I’m not attracted, intrinsically, to new taxes. But as I have said throughout, we have got to do what we can – and we will – to look after people through the aftershocks of Covid, through the current pressures on energy prices that we are seeing post-Covid and with what’s going on in Russia and we are going to put our arms round people, just as we did during the pandemic.”