New figures published today show there are now 2.5 million people on Universal Credit. By the time it’s fully rolled out that number will have grown to over six million people.

Following a year-long review led by Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Margaret Greenwood, Labour recently announced that it will scrap the cruel and inhumane Universal Credit.

That review found Universal Credit failing on all fronts. It was meant to be simple; it is littered with complexity. It was meant to reduce poverty; it is driving people to food banks. It was meant to make work pay; there are record levels of in-work poverty.

Three separate reports (Citizens Advice, Trussell Trust, and Residential Landlords Association) published recently add to the case against Universal Credit. They show it causes over half of people to go without food or lose sleep due to money worries, it fuels food bank use and it forces tenants into rent arrears.

Labour will consign the hated Universal Credit to history. We will implement an emergency package of reforms to mitigate some of the worst features while we develop our replacement system.

Under Labour, social security will eliminate in–work poverty, not exacerbate it. Crucially, the six million people who would have been on the cruel and inhumane Universal Credit will instead be on a just system dedicated to dignity, universalism and ending poverty.