A HIGHLAND MP who has called for the rollout of Universal Credit (UC) to the Highlands to be halted, has secured an adjournment debate in the Commons on Monday.

It comes after Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey SNP MP Drew Hendry highlighted in The National the plight of some claimants who had been forced to wait for payments, which were frequently reduced to below the previous level of benefit Others described how they had been left without money for gas or electricity for several days, in one case in the home of a family of five that included three children.

Hendry said the situation is now at crisis point and the rollout of the full service had to be halted immediately.

He told The National: “The lack of interest from the Tories, or any understanding of the pain being caused, as a result of the UC rollout in the Highlands, is staggering.

“They seem to think if they ignore us long enough, we will go away and stop calling for a halt to this shambolic rollout. We won’t and they must act to end this running nightmare for sufferers of this unjust and unworkable system.

“The reality is that UC is leaving families without food, disabled people isolated in their homes, and the most vulnerable in our society made to feel like an inconvenience, because they don’t fit into one of the ideologically-driven benefit ‘pigeon holes’.

“To date my invitation for the Minister to come to Inverness and hear first-hand the experiences of my constituents, remains unanswered.”

The MP Hendry added: “I am, therefore glad that I have secured this debate and will have the opportunity to share some of these devastating stories with him.

“Let him tell them that all is well and that the rollout is going according to plan.”