A council leader has asked the government to review their decision to cancel the universal credit uplift after residents have deemed the cut ‘devastating’.

Cllr Mohammed Khan CBE has written to Rishi Sunak and the HM Treasury sharing his concerns about the drop which is set to see over a third of working age families with children to lose out on £1,040 a year from October 6.

Speaking on Twitter, the councillor said: “As a councillor and as the leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, I am getting worried constituents raising the issue regularly with me.

“They tell me it will have a devastating impact on them.”

Recent figures, collected by the Lancashire Association of Trades Union Councils, show that a total of 15,208 are currently on Universal Credit in Blackburn, of which 5,199 are in work.

Cllr Khan continues to argue that areas such as Blackburn with Darwen which are highly deprived will be hit harder than other areas as more people are looking to universal credit to help boost their income.

He said: “COVID has been extremely difficult for everyone and Blackburn with Darwen has been hit particularly hard because of our structural inequalities – health inequalities, deprivation and poor housing.

“Now is not the time to increase the difficulties on struggling families in our borough as we recover from the pandemic. Ending the uplift also sucks money out of the local economy as well which will hamper our recovery from COVID.

“This reduction will have the most severe impact on Northern local authority areas like Blackburn with Darwen.

“How can the government say they are committed to levelling up when such decisions hurt the North the most?

“There is still time for you and the Prime Minister to do the right thing, listen to the many voices and keep the uplift.”