Stephen Lloyd said:

“This is a slow motion car crash. One and a half million people are in private rented accommodation and in receipt of housing benefit. Private landlords are not in a position, financially, to be as forgiving as councils and housing associations. With the delays in payment we have already seen, many vulnerable people will lose their homes. And many landlords will simply stop taking on Universal Credit tenants, so where are these hundreds of thousands of people supposed to live?

“Meanwhile, news that universal credit will push a million children into poverty by 2020 should give any Conservative MP serious pause for thought. I would urge them to vote against their government on this. The Child Poverty Action Group warn that 300,000 of those will be under five.

“The minimum six week wait before people get their UC does not work for many, and this shows the emptiness of the Conservative motto to build a country that works for everyone. It’s a con, and a cruel one at that.”