Photo Dan Moyle (Creative Commons)

Photo Dan Moyle (Creative Commons)   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Phone lines for the Tories’ new ‘Universal Credit’ reduced welfare system are not even free. Empty-handed benefit claimants must fork out between 12p and 45p every minute to discuss their cases.

Employment Minister Priti Patel reports the 0345 line has received 2.2 million calls, lasting an average seven minutes, 29 seconds. This means operator BT will have made between £1.49 million and £6.6 million from society’s hardest up.

The Socialist says: scrap Universal Credit. For liveable benefits and guaranteed, well-paid employment for all, without compulsion. Nationalise BT and the telecom firms under the democratic control of workers and customers.