Boris Johnson said Brits shouldn’t rely on handouts – and everyone had the same takedown

Boris Johnson has been mocked in an obvious way for claiming Brits shouldn’t rely on the welfare state and should instead increase their wages “through their efforts”.

Pressed on the issue of Universal Credit by Sky News, after two Tory MPs wrote to him to urge him to make the £20 Universal Credit increase permanent regardless of the pandemic, the Prime Minister dismissed the suggestion and implied people should work instead – despite many people on Universal Credit also being in work but at low wages.

He said: “My strong preference is for people to see their wages rise through their efforts rather than through taxation of other people put into their pay packets and rather than welfare and that’s the approach we support.”

Being the Prime Minister, Johnson is ironically funded by the taxpayer. He has also accepted donations to fund his lavish flat – remember wallpaper gate? – and has claimed in the past that his salary isn’t sufficient to fund his lifestyle. Please allow us to play a song on a tiny violin.

As a result, he got a comprehensive battering on social media:

As for Universal Credit, Citizens Advice has warned that a third of people on universal credit, or at least 2.3 million people, will end up in debt when the extra payment, which was introduced at the outset of the pandemic and extended this March, is removed in October.

Meanwhile, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation called it the “biggest overnight cut to the basic rate of social security since the Second World War.”

Labour also criticised the cut, saying it would hit the lowest paid hardest and damage the country’s economic recovery.

Shadow work and pensions secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said: “Time is running out for the Conservatives to see sense, back struggling families and cancel their cut to universal credit.

“Labour would maintain the uplift until we can replace universal credit with a fairer social security system.”

Nevertheless, last month, Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed the increase would be scrapped as it was “always intended to be a temporary measure”.

The number of people receiving the benefit has doubled during the pandemic, increasing its cost significantly.