Labour Party slams Milton Keynes' two Tory MPs for 'not protecting' people on Universal Credit

But one of the MPs has hit back, explaining why he abstained on this week's £20 a week Universal Credit vote and accusing Labour of scaremongering.

Both Ben Everitt and Iain Stewart refused to vote for yesterday's Opposition Day motion that a proposed cut to Universal Credit payments be scrapped.

Cllr Rob Middleton, Labour's Cabinet Member for Resources in MK said: “Every day we see the impact on Covid-19 hitting our economy, and the burden is being felt by everyone. However, it is falling hardest on those who have the least. The Labour Party wanted MPs to send a strong message to the government that cutting Universal Credit

would be wrong. Our local MK Conservative MPs failed the test.”

He added: "Most people in MK are not idiots. They know our MPs just do as they are told. Its no secret

that their personal ambition is ministerial office, not speaking up for MK. They had a chance tonight to simply send a message. More debt, more homelessness and more child poverty.

"Last year our Tory MPs shamefully voted against extending free school meals to poorest children over

Christmas. At the time they used the excuse that the uplift in Universal Credit was the solution to that problem. They had a chance in the House of Commons to show that if that is what they actually believe or if it was just a line for the press."

The opposition's motion concerned the £20 'uplift' - an extra Universal Credit payment made to claimants during the Covid crisis. It is due to be reviewed in next month's Budget and Labour are calling for it be be extended.

In an emotive speech outside the House of Commons, MP Ben Everitt accused Labour of using opposition day to make "deeply divisive political points about really emotive subjects" .

He said the £20 was a temporary uplift during the pandemic and there had been no decision about whether it will be phased out, extended or replaced with something else.

Mr Everitt also claimed labour of 'weaponised' free school meals during the last Opposition Day in October.

"What the Tories had in place "reached more people" and was beyond the scope of that proposed by Labour, he said.

"I saw MPs receive death threats, MPs have their offices vandalised, their families threatened because what they voted for, what they knew was better than what Labour put in front of them.... It shouldn't be like this. Opposition Days should be about the opposition constructively criticising policy, not picking emotive subjects and scaremongering. I will not be playing along with people's political games. I will not be voting on their deliberately divisive motion."