Owen Smith MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, commenting on today’s jobs and pay statistics, said:

“Today’s fall in unemployment is welcome but there are no signs the Tory pay crisis is going away.

“At this rate, after ten years of the Tories, the pay of working families will have risen at its lowest level in nearly a hundred years. 

“To make matters worse, when low and middle income families most need in-work support, the Government is pulling that support away.

“By forcing people onto the cut-back version of Universal Credit, the Tories will make life even harder for workers across the country whose pay-packets are already stretched to breaking point.

“Ahead of next month’s Budget, Labour is calling on the Government to immediately reverse cuts to Universal Credit that will see over two million working families an average of £1,600 a year worse off.”