PEOPLE in Llandudno will join hundreds of community campaigners around the UK calling on MPs to oppose cuts to Universal Credit.

The public rallies are being led by union Unite community branches on Wednesday to galvanise support for maintaining the £20 uplift to Universal Credit during the pandemic.

MPs across Wales are being urged to join the six former Conservative welfare ministers including the architect of the Universal Credit system, Iain Duncan-Smith in backing calls to extend the weekly uplift to all claimants after September.

A rally will take place on Mostyn Street in Llandudno from 10am to 2pm.

Unite said the UK had long had one of the "weakest welfare safety nets in Europe" which had been cruelly exposed by the pandemic.

Mark Turner, Unite community co-ordinator for Wales said: “If the Chancellor presses ahead with plans to cut the £20 Universal Credit top up at the end of September, just as the furlough scheme is also due to end, thousands of local people are at risk of being pushed into deeper debt and poverty overnight.

“A warm home and food are not luxuries but for the six million people now relying on Universal Credit to get by, the £20 uplift is literally the difference between heating and eating.

“With poverty in working households at a record high this century and the savage and sharp rise in unemployment during the pandemic, it would be mistake to take this money, about £1,040 a year, out of people’s pockets and from our high streets.

“We are urging the people of Wales to join us in calling on our Welsh MPs, of all parties, to act now and keep our families fed. Join us on Wednesday 14 July, sign our petition and postcards. The time for action is now.

“The majority of the public are with us and support making the £20 uplift permanent - 54 per cent according to Unite/Survation poll. We want to see it extended to claimants on legacy benefits as well."