Rishi Sunak has been announced as the next prime minister of the UK, leaving Brits eager to hear how he plans to grow the economy, stabilise the markets and support vulnerable families struggling amid the cost of living crisis. Another matter high on the former chancellor's agenda is how to unite a divided Tory party.
One of the items in the new PM's intray - and one of the issues which the party can't seem to agree on - is what to do about uprating Universal Credit and other benefits. During her short stint in Downing Street, Liz Truss refused to rule out uprating benefits payments in line with earnings rather than inflation, despite warnings that doing so would result in a real-terms cut of up to £1,000 a year for some of Britain's poorest families.
Back when Mr Sunak was serving as chancellor under the leadership of former prime minister Boris Johnson, he committed to uprate welfare payments in line with September’s Consumer Prices Index, which has reached 10.1 per cent according to figures published on by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) earlier this month.
