Responding to government confirmation that Universal Credit will be cut by £20-a-week on 1 October, Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner said:  "The determination to rob the poorest workers and families of £20 a week from October is heartless and economically irresponsible.

"The majority of those on Universal Credit are in work but earning too little to get by because poverty pay has exploded under a decade of Conservative rule.

"Food and living costs are rising and the chaotic bungling of the re-opening of the economy means we cannot be assured of a return to any so-called normal. That £20 is a lifeline during this continuing uncertainty and removing it will cause certain despair.

"September 30 this year is set to be a bleak day for workers and our communities, with the Universal Credit cut and the end of furlough.

"It will go down as the day that this Tory government threw hundreds of thousands of working and vulnerable people and children under the bus."

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