GREEN Party leader Natalie Bennett has expressed her party’s support for the “Stop the Five Week Wait” petition, promoted by the TUC.
It is demanding changes to the proposed Universal Credit scheme that will see people who lose their job having to wait at least five weeks for financial help, a huge leap from the current two weeks.
Bennett said:
“With millions of households struggling to meet essential bills from week to week, and many workers struggling with short-term and zero-hours contracts and insecure employment, financial survival for five weeks or more is going to be practically impossible for many.
“They’ll be thrust into the arms of massively expensive payday lenders, forced to rely on the charity of foodbanks, or to seek help from friends and relatives almost as hard-pressed.
“Aid from the state for those who’ve been failed by our economy, which isn’t generating or maintaining jobs that workers can live on, needs to be as quick as practically possible.
“The unemployed are not to blame for their situation, and the benefits situation should meet the needs of those who rely on it.”