I’d like to start my intervention with a quote from a constituent of mine in Carmarthen:

Being a single mother scares me. I had a letter today giving me information as to how much universal credit I’ll be entitled to, and I’m going to be £210 a month worse off. I work 16 hours a week and I’m just about making ends meet now. I dread to think what situation I’m going to be in when I finally get switched to universal credit. For every £1 I earn over my work allowance, I have 65p taken off me. How is this meant to encourage and help people to work?’

That’s just one of the 20,000 people in Pembrokeshire alone who are going to be impacted by changes in universal credit, and whilst it’s true to say that some will be better off, the fact is that because of the insistence on pursuing austerity measures by the UK Government, most will be much worse off. The oddest thing of all about this policy, as has already been suggested, is that it’s being implemented and the way it’s being implemented, in many cases, undermines that financial incentive to work.

Single parents with dependent children are particularly hard hit, receiving £3,100 a year less than they received with tax credit: a massive hit on any family budget. And the UK Government has deliberately staggered the roll-out of universal credit so that we can learn lessons, but in Wigan, four out of five universal credit claimants, or over 80 per cent of people, ended up being in rent arrears. I must ask, if that’s the evidence of the lessons, why are we not pausing to rethink how we can make the system easier for some of the most deprived and vulnerable people in our communities?

More than half of the people in receipt of universal credit are in work. They’re doing the right thing for themselves and for the wider society, but now they’re being penalised. I don’t think anyone’s promoting the fact that we should continue with the present system, which is extremely complex, but the way this system is being introduced is proving to be entirely counterproductive.

A particular problem emanates from this point that money is paid in arrears, and at the moment it’s a 42-day wait for the first payment, and others, you’ve heard, can extend to 60 days in arrears. Around half of universal credit recipients so far have been able to access advance payments, but it’s really difficult for vulnerable people with poor reading and writing skills to prove that they’re in need of money to pay for bills or to pay for food. And the fact that the UK Government thinks that this delay in payment is somehow acceptable and possible for people who often have chaotic lives, I’m afraid just serves to underline how utterly out of touch they are with their constituents. And on top of that, just imagine what it’s like for someone who has an addiction—perhaps to gambling, alcohol or drugs—or people with learning difficulties to manage what might seem a vast amount of money then, arriving to them all at once.

It’s interesting to note that the joint committee on human rights has warned that the roll-out of universal credit benefit could expose women to abuse because the benefit is paid to couples through a joint account. We should be concerned that some men may limit their partners’ access to money and force women to stay in violent relationships.

In the pilot schemes we’ve seen, we’ve seen massive increases in rent arrears, which have implications for social housing landlords and council house landlords. We’ve heard already that a lot of people are now homeless as a result. We’ve seen these massive demand increases at food banks. Many have been driven into the arms of ruthless moneylenders, and they charge extortionate interest rates simply to people who want to feed their children. Let’s not forget that, in Wales, one in three children are living in poverty—a shameful situation in a country that is the fifth-richest country in the world, and where the UK Government will have made £80 billion-worth of tax cuts, including £22 billion-worth of income tax cuts, by 2021. I think it’s time to inject some justice into this system, to rebalance the inequality in this country, and to make sure that everyone is incentivised to contribute and to work.

I am afraid that I disagree with the proposal that control over welfare should be devolved. I don’t think there’s any chance that the UK Government will cough up the cash for welfare while relinquishing administrative control. [Interruption.]