THE £20 weekly uplift to Universal Credit payments should be reinstated immediately to help people cope with the rising cost of living, MPs have warned.

Without the extra £20, which brought in at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to help people on lower incomes navigate that period of economic uncertainty, was scrapped last autumn.

And, without it, benefits for unemployed people are at their lowest real-terms levels since the early 1990s, it has been claimed.

Ministers for the UK Government, which is responsible for the benefits system in Wales, said the uplift had only ever been planned as a temporary measure "to help with the most extreme elements of the pandemic".

But scrapping the scheme sparked widespread opposition, with critics arguing the economic instability caused by Covid would continue, and that this year sharp rises in energy prices and the cost of everyday essentials - such as food - have pushed more people dangerously close to financial peril.

Before Covid arrived, Wales already had the highest poverty rates of all the UK nations, with one in six people living in income deprivation.

Four of Gwent's council areas are among the most deprived: Blaenau Gwent (21 per cent), Caerphilly, Newport (both 18 per cent) and Torfaen (17 per cent) all have more people living in income deprivation than the national average (16 per cent).

Nearly 500,000 workers in Wales have been furloughed at some point during the pandemic, and the number of people claiming Universal Credit benefits in March 2021 was nearly 90 per cent higher than immediately before coronavirus hit.

Young people were hit hard, with the number of claimants aged 16-19 going up by 58 per cent, and the number of claimants aged 20-24 increasing by 80 per cent in that same 12-month period.

Calls to reinstate the £20 uplift continue over wider fears the rising cost-of-living crisis will impact even more people.

Welsh thinktank the Bevan Foundation found four-in-10 households cannot afford anything beyond "everyday items", and food bank charity the Trussell Trust gave out 68 per cent more emergency food parcels in 2020/21 than it did five years earlier.

Against this backdrop, and repeated calls from support organisations, charities and Welsh Government ministers, the cross-party Welsh Affairs Committee of MPs said: "In light of concerns about the rising costs of living, there is a need for a discussion about how to ensure benefits are adequate, affordable and sustainable."

They added: "It is clear that current benefit levels are inadequate. In the short term, the £20 uplift should be reintroduced at the Budget in March 2022, and extended to legacy benefits.

"Without the uplift, benefits for the unemployed are at their lowest real-terms level since the early 1990s.

"Had they grown in line with GDP per capita since 1990, they would be £40 a week higher."

Committee member Beth Winter said the £20 uplift "is needed now more than ever".

She added: "Now we have a clear set of recommendations, the [UK] Government needs to act on them. The Spring Statement next Wednesday [March 23] is the moment to do it and show they have heard us."