Audiences have praised Gary Neville this morning after he ripped into the government and a fellow guest on ITV’s Good Morning Britain over the removal of the £20 a week Universal Credit uplift
The removal of the uplift, which is worth £1,040 a year to claimants, comes into force today and is expected to affect around 6 million people across the country – many of whom use the benefit to support them as well as working in low-paid jobs.
First introduced by the government to help struggling families at the start of the pandemic at a cost of around £6bn a year, on GMB this morning the footballer turned pundit called the reduction “brutal.”
He also condemned the “divisive and dangerous” rhetoric surrounding the topic, hitting out at fellow guest Edwina Currie after she claimed that the uplift “does not make sense” as there are more job vacancies now.
Susanna also argued with the former politician, stating that: “‘Not everybody on Universal Credit doesn’t have a job.
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“Forty percent of those already on Universal Credit are in work.”
Edwina replied: “Yes, but the majority of people on Universal Credit don’t have a job.”
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She added: “What we have to realise is we’ve got something like a million vacancies being advertised in this country.
“It doesn’t make any kind of sense to pay people to stay at home.”
Pitching in, Neville retorted: “Well, let me just translate what Edwina has just said,”
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“‘I’m ok here, we’re ok here’, which is the first thing a Conservative person does.
“They look after themselves.
“The language is always divisive, it’s not helpful. It’s really dangerous to remove Universal Credit payments at this moment in time, it’s brutal.”
He continued: “I trust the population of this country, I work on the theory that people aren’t sitting there lazy, they really want a good job.
“They want to get good pay, they want their mental health to be sorted.
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“They’re not sitting there thinking, ‘I’m going to take the chancellors money and live off their money for the next 10-15 years.”
A number of charities, think tanks and unions having previously warned against the Universal Credit uplift removal, explaining that it will hit some of the poorest families the hardest at a time when energy bills are set to soar.
Many have also argued that it could hit the UK’s coronavirus recovery, as it will mean millions losing disposable income for spending on essentials.
All of this means that the government is still coming under increasing pressure this week to u-turn on its decision to abandon the benefit uplift, as it did with the free school meals debate in the summer.
Feature image – ITV
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The Boots recycling scheme where you can get £5 off every shop
Thomas Melia
UK high street retailer and healthcare shop Boots has launched an innovative recycling scheme that entitles customers to £5 off their future shopping trips.
If you’re still struggling to come up with a New Year’s resolution, why not try a spot of recycling and earn some money off your next cosmetics shop while you’re at it?
Started in 2020, the Boots Recycling Scheme allows Advantage Card holders the opportunity to get money while also being more conscious about how we recycle our used health and beauty products.
Their third-party app, Recycle at Boots, uses a ‘Scan2Recycle‘ system where users can upload items from various beauty brands by taking a picture of the empty packaging before identifying its form.
This scheme takes items that can’t usually be recycled at home, such as lotion pumps, toothpaste tubes, lipstick, mascaras, travel minis, make-up palettes and more.
Once you have five items approved, head over to your nearest participating Boots store, drop off your empties and scan the QR code on the deposit box.
After you’ve followed all these steps, a voucher will appear entitling you to 500 Advantage Points when you spend £10 in-store at your nearest location, and not only do you have £5 worth of points with your name on it, you’re also an eco-warrior.
There’s even a dedicated section of the app to recycling empty medicine and vitamin blister packs, which gives customers 100 Advantage Points when they spend £5 in-store.
Brilliant.
Credit: Publicity pictures (supplied)
Items dropped into these deposit boxes are taken to MyGroup, a recycling and waste management service which works around the clock to help divert waste from landfill.
These empties will be washed and traditionally recycled into a material called MyBoard, a construction board material most similar to plywood, with lots of different uses.
Nearest Boots locations in Manchester running the Recycle at Boots scheme:
Manchester Market Street – 32 Market Street, M1 1PL
Salford Regent Park – Regents Park, M5 3TP
Manchester Didsbury – 736-740 Wilmslow Road, M20 2DW
The Trafford Centre – 10 Peel Avenue, M17 8BD
Trafford Retail Park – Neary Way, M41 7FN
If you’re up for getting money off your next Boots splurge while also helping recycle cosmetics containers and more, you can download the Recycle at Boots app and find your nearest HERE.
Manchester United issue statement after Bruno Fernandes’ social media is hacked
Danny Jones
Manchester United were forced to issue an official statement following Bruno Fernandes’ social media being hacked.
The Man United star’s digital profile was hijacked in the wake of the defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion this weekend, which saw the Red Devils knocked out of the FA Cup and, it’s fair to say, quite the flurry of activity online.
As if to add insult to injury, with United‘s exit from the competition, a user then commandeered the club captain’s presence to share several fake posts.
With the official Bruno Fernandes X account being targeted following the game, the club had no choice but to respond after several controversial and/or inappropriate posts, not to mention multiple instances of general anti-ownership sentiment.
In case you didn’t see any of the since-deleted posts, besides one understandably troublesome comment which read, “let’s get rid of INEOS“, others were even more provocative/inflammatory.
The comments ranged from everything between messages @ing darts player and United fan Luke Littler to influencers like KSI and Jake Paul.
Offensive language was also present in many of them.
As for the Portuguese midfielder, he also quickly clarified that he obviously had no involvement in the activity; meanwhile, despite plenty of players coming out to apologise for the defeat on Sunday night, the skipper is yet to address the disappointment directly.
The loss to Brighton confirmed that Manchester United will be playing just 40 games for the rest of the campaign – the fewest since the 1914/15 season (i.e. at the outset of the First World War) – which serves as yet another unwanted record for the club of late.
You can see the highlights for the game down below.
It is also likely to have been caretaker manager Darren Fletcher’s final game in charge of the Reds, with an interim replacement set to be appointed imminently following Ruben Amorim’s shock sacking earlier this month.
His predecessor, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, also looked like the frontrunner at one point – and could still be involved in a backroom setup – but The Athletic now has it that Carrick could be is odds-on favourite to be announced before the Manchester derby.
Nevertheless, plenty of supporters still feel the problems remain deeply rooted throughout the club and that a change of personnel among the coaching staff still may not be enough…
Georgina Pellant -
6th October 2021 
