350 postcards signed by local people opposed to the planned cut in universal credit were delivered to Philip Davies MP by members of Unite on Monday.

The cut of £20 per week, which is due to come in at the end of this month, will cause a lot of hardship to people already struggling to get by, Unite has argued.

Over 40 per cent of those on universal credit are working, campaigners say, and they spoke with one lady who works part-time, doing the maximum hours she can manage, as she has a disability.

Universal credit tops up her low wages, and she said she does not know how she will manage when she loses £86 per month.

Another woman who signed a postcard to Mr Davies was a single parent with five children, and was left with £30 per week to survive on when all the bills were paid.

Tory MPs – including universal credit architect, Iain Duncan-Smith – footballer and anti-poverty campaigner Marcus Rashford, charities, landlords and debt organisations have all spoken out against what is the biggest overnight benefit cut since the Second World War.

On Friday, campaigners from Bradford will be delivering petitions signed by people from across the region to Chancellor Rishi Sunak at his Northallerton office, again calling for the cut to be cancelled.

Yesterday, Mr Davies told the Telegraph & Argus: "There is a strong case for keeping the universal credit uplift, but unfortunately the campaigners never have anything to say about how these things will be paid for.

“Governments don’t have the luxury of just campaigning for a worthy sentiment, they have to decide what things they will have to cut in order to increase spending elsewhere, and whenever they propose any cuts to anything these campaigners object to it.

“I have made clear that I would prefer to see the universal credit uplift maintained, rather than continuing to waste money on white elephant schemes like HS2, but the opposition parties refuse to support me in that regard.”