Corbyn Vows to Halt Universal Credit and Ban Zero-Hour Contracts

Plymouth Live

Labour leader rails against benefit system and gig economy during visit to meet party activists in Plymouth.

Labour supremo Jeremy Corbyn has vowed to ban zero-hour contracts and put a brake on the roll-out of Universal Credit if he becomes Prime Minister, branding the benefit system “brutal, unnecessary and wrong”.

Speaking during a lightning visit to Plymouth, the leader of the opposition said he wanted to reform the new all-inclusive benefits system, which has been bedevilled by complaints, confusion and problems.

He said that, if elected, he would immediately call a stop to the continuing roll-out of Universal Credit (UC) and end the waiting period, blamed for causing people to go weeks without receiving any money, sometimes leading them to go into debt and even become homeless.

He also voiced his disgust at the need for people in work to have to resort to food banks, railed against the policies he blamed for causing an increasing number of rough sleepers, said Tory austerity was resulting in “the poor getting poorer” and vowed to tackle inequality and the uncertainty caused by the so-called gig economy, vowing to force employers to guarantee staff a minimum number of hours work a week.

Mr Corbyn, in the city to rally Labour activists ahead of the May 2019 local government elections, said he would immediately tackle issues to do with UC if he won a general election.

He said: “We’d halt the roll out straight away and end the waiting period for people going onto it. We would end the benefit freeze of 2010 which has hard wired into it a reduction of benefits.

Mr Corbyn said: “We come across the reality of UC every day and it’s particularly people in private rented accommodation that are the most vulnerable and likely to be evicted.”

The Labour leader, who actually went door-to-door canvassing around the streets of Plymouth, also said he would also eradicate the uncertainty of zero-hour working.

“We would abolish it,” he said. “We’d bring in a minimal employment requirement guaranteeing to pay them on a minimum number of hours so they (workers) know what their income will be, and it is predictable.

“Those on zero hours don’t know what their income will be from one month to another, they end up in debt and hoping to get a text message or phone call telling them there is work.

“That is not the right way to live.”

Image courtesty of Plymouth Live: Neil Wright thought he was going to receive £284 on the 14th December in Universal credit payment, but only had 1p put into his account.

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