James Forsyth James Forsyth

Can the Tories defend the six-week wait for Universal Credit?

Jeremy Corbyn went on universal credit again at PMQs today. Theresa May was better than she was last week. She did muster a defence of the moral basis of the policy, but she still spent the session stuck on the back foot.

It is hard to see how the Tories can continue to defend the six-week wait claimants face before they receive their payments. If I was a Number 10 political strategist, I’d also be worried about the roll out of the policy in the run up to Christmas — a time when families often feel the pinch.

It was, as it nearly always is, left to backbenchers to raise Brexit. Theresa May sounded a different tone to David Davis on the timing of a Brexit vote, saying she was ‘confident’ that the vote on the deal would take place before Britain actually leaves the EU.

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