What would losing £20 a week mean to you? Would you notice? Would it be an inconvenience? Would such a loss of income drag you and your family “down into destitution”?

It may sound an exaggeration, but according to MPs on the Work and Pensions Committee this is the shocking reality faced by hundreds of thousands of families if the Government refuses to make the £20-a-week increase to Universal Credit (UC) permanent.

Families, through no fault of their own, trapped in a state of perpetual crisis as they stare into the abyss of unemployment or lost hours, terrified of losing their livelihoods, their homes, their dignity and the future prospects for their children.

This is not a Third World country we are talking about here, this is 21st century Britain.

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Yet blundering Boris appears to be sleepwalking into yet another policy disaster as he cruelly deprives those on the lowest rung of the ladder the reassurance they desperately need. Waiting until the Budget for a decision isn’t much good for families on the breadline, who need to plan for their future. Action must be taken now.

Of course, there is the question of cost, which unsurprisingly is considerable. Indeed, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation pitched it at around £6.4 billion for 2021/2022, although it could be much lower if government plans to help people back to work reduce the number on benefit. Meanwhile, according to Citizens Advice Scotland the uplift only returned UC to its real-terms value from eight years ago, largely as a result of the benefit freeze between 2015 and 2019.

And it’s not an unpopular move. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation found 54 per cent of people want the £20 boost extended beyond April, with only 28% opposed.

As much as Johnson admires Winston Churchill, he would do well to avoid making the same mistake his hero made and misjudge the public mood. When the old imperialist heartlessly warned before the 1945 election of a “Gestapo in Britain if socialism wins” the war-weary British public booted him out of office and brought in Clement Attlee’s welfare revolution.

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This is another national crisis. We may not be under attack by the Luftwaffe, but this microscopic invader has infiltrated our borders and left more than 100,000 dead, an economy on life support and families on the cliff edge.

Perhaps it is difficult for the privileged collection of individuals who make up the Cabinet to truly comprehend the concept of poverty, or fully understand how £20 a week can be a lifeline for families who were already walking a precarious financial tightrope.

To return to pre-pandemic levels of UC would look at best petty, at worst inhumane. These are ordinary families who have fallen on hard times, many of whom are only in this situation because of the restrictions aimed at combating Covid. If you’re not one of them, count yourself lucky.

So for the sake of an extra 20 quid a week, Boris, let’s show we can be world-beaters, but this time where it matters… compassion.

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