I will make DWP Universal Credit 'much' more generous, says Tory leadership candidate

Tom Tugendhat is the first Conservative leadership candidate to strongly defend the benefits system and pledge to make it more generous. But he will almost certainly be out of the contest in a few days

Tom Tugendhat made a rare defense of the welfare state (

Image: Reuters)

Universal Credit should be made ‘much’ more generous to ensure hard work pays, a Tory leadership candidate pledged today.

Tom Tugendhat has made a rare defense of the welfare state after his right-wing rival Suella Braverman attacked poor Britons who 'choose to rely on benefits'.

Ex-army officer, centre-right candidate for prime minister, says he will improve reduction rate - which affects 2.3 million claimants (41%) who are employed .

This is one of the contest's only interventions on the benefits system - where most Tory candidates have chosen to focus on tax and spending cuts despite a cost of living crisis .

Currently, claimants lose 55 pence of their benefits for every pound they earn through work above a certain threshold.

It was 63p until Rishi Sunak made it more generous. But Mr Tugendhat today said he would make the cut rate "much better" again.

He told the Mirror: 'One of the things I'm really committed to is looking at the cut rate, because the Universal Credit cut rate isn't where it should be.'

He hailed the “phenomenal” reforms that created Universal Credit, which “supported people through the darkest days” of Covid without collapsing.

But he added, "You can't incentivize work if the marginal tax rate is over 60%, 70% [including income tax and other levies]. It just gets absurd. .

"Because when you factor in the costs of getting to work, and now of course even more so with the cost of fuel, what you're really doing is paying for the work.

“It doesn't work for anyone, of course it doesn't. not, business is not doing as much as it could.

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2022 Conservative leadership election

"And it also means that people aren't then, to use that dreadful phrase, improving their skills as they work and gaining the experience to move on to newer jobs. best things."

The MP would not be attracted to how he would help people with the cost of living, beyond a 10 pence cut on fuel tax.

He also refused to guarantee that he would maintain the triple pension lock, which will lead to an exceptional increase in April 2023.

Mr. Tugendhat won 37 votes from MPs in the first ballot, while her rival, Ms Braverman...