MP backs Universal Credit demands

A Blackpool MP has welcomed calls from Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn to scrap phone line charges which hit the poorest people in society.

By The Newsroom

Published 13th Oct 2017, 11:18 BST

Updated 12th Dec 2017, 13:01 BST

Labour’s Gordon Marsden has repeatedly said the Universal Credit helpline charges – at 55p per minute – are excessive and unfair.

The issue was once again raised at Prime Minister’s Question Time in Parliament this week where Mr Corbyn said the helpline should be made free of charge to claimants.

After being previously contacted by the Salvation Army locally and Streetlife, Blackpool South MP Gordon Marsden pressed the Prime Minister on the issue in July, where he said the system was letting down some of the most vulnerable in Blackpool.

Gordon said: “I am hearing time and time again from charities such as the Salvation Army locally and Streetlife about the problems this is causing people in Blackpool - in one case it took a claimant 39 minutes to get an answer to their call.

“Jeremy is completely right to press Mrs May on this because it is failing people in Blackpool.”