Star date: 28th December 2018

UNIVERSAL CREDIT - UNIVERSAL CATASTROPHE

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 12th annual Salford Star Mary Burns Awards, which are given out to honour the most deserving individuals and organisations in the city for their stupid statements, dodgy dealings and iffy activities over the past twelve months.

The Conservative Government has been waging an ideological war on the poor since it first got its hands on Number 10, but nothing, except the Bedroom Tax of course, compares to the social and economic calamity of Universal Credit. So, ladies and gentlemen, scratch your Dickens, slap your Cratchits and give it all up for the winner of the Universal Catastrophe Award...

Full details here...

UNIVERSAL CATASTROPHE AWARD

Goes to...

The CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT

Ladies and gentlemen, how we laughed at school about the Tudor Window Tax – what a stupid concept! And then came the Bedroom Tax – oh how they will laugh at that obscene attack in two hundred years! In the meantime, the roll out of Universal Credit is doing very nicely in the Tory Government's ideological and real war on the poor.

Last January, Council figures showed that 91.3% of City West Housing tenants on Universal Credit were in arrears, compared to 42.3% of non-Universal Credit claimants in arrears. The average arrears for those City West tenants on Universal Credit was £852, compared to £472 for those not on Universal Credit.

In May, the Salford Star revealed that, in the whole of Salford, 79% of tenants claiming Universal Credit were in arrears, with an average balance of £689. This compared to 33.6% of tenants not claiming Universal Credit who were in arrears with an average balance of £414....

In November, the Star reported that 3,700 Salford people claiming Universal Credit 'Live' had been told by the DWP to transfer to the Full Service within four weeks. The DWP stated that there would be 'no impact' on benefits over the Christmas period but the jury is still out on that one.

Also in November the Star highlighted the plight of a lady claiming Universal Credit who had been told by the DWP to live on just £47 per week, or £190 per month, after 'migrating' from Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)... "How am I going to manage? I haven't got a clue" she told the Salford Star.

The same lady's father had died earlier this year from a heart attack while waiting for a DWP appeal, after being told he was fit for work.

We could go on and on – but Universal Credit has been a 'Universal Catastrophe' and if ever an award has been merited this is it...

So, ladies and gentlemen, hitch up your Hard Times, deflect your Brexits and count your farthings for the winner of the Universal Catastrophe Salford Star Mary Burns Award...

The Conservative Government!!!

If someone from the Tory Government would like to make an acceptance speech, please use the comments box below...

See other winners of the 2018 Salford Star Mary Burns Awards...

The Donald Trump Award For Media Dissing - Charlie Winstanley - click here

Disappearing Salford Award – Urban Splash/Alliance Investments – click here

Feed The Rich Award - Fred Done - click here

International Award - Manchester City Council - click here

Real Digital Council of the Year - Salford City Council - click here

Cuadrilla Award for Attempted Protest Stifling - Bellway Homes - click here

Uncle Joe Stalin Award for Open and Democratic Government - Salford City Council - click here

Grenfell Tower Memorial Award - Salford City Council, Pendleton Together and the Conservative Government - click here

Radio Ga Ga Nursery Award - Salford City Council - click here

Art Appreciation Award - Salford City Council - click here