Treasury Secretary Liz Truss has featured twice on the SKWAWKBOX in the last week or so for her abject attempts to defend the government’s Universal Credit (UC) system.

Confronted by a journalists over huge waits causing claimants terrible hardship, Ms Truss claimed that the system was working well – because everything had seemed fine when she visited a Jobcentre. Asked by Daily Politics presenter Andrew Neil why impoverished people were being charged fifty-five pence a minute to call the DWP to try to sort out payment delays, she became non-responsive in a way that would have made BBC News headlines all day had she been a Labour politician instead of a Tory.

But the stark reality of the impact of the government’s utterly callous disregard for the damage their vanity-project change to the benefits system is causing was made clear today when the BBC interviewed Holly Sargent – a young woman who has been kept waiting for eight months and counting to receive her UC payment.

Ms Sargent has sold every possession and relies on Foodbanks and hand-outs from her mum – who is also looking after her young son – to eke out an existence. So dire is her situation that her son cannot even stay overnight with her.

In a deeply-moving video, Ms Sargent and her mother spoke of her situation. Both were in tears – and Ms Sargent broke down completely as her anguish overwhelmed her:

Dear @BBCNewsnight – please show all panelists this clip tomorrow and ask for their response. Cheers. pic.twitter.com/WsMfmtysJO — Sarah (@ScouseGirlMedia) October 11, 2017

This video should be compulsory watching for every aloof, detached, callous, dissembling government minister and every colluding pundit and journalist.

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