Angry councillors accused the council’s leader of delaying action to lobby the Government to reinstate a £20-a-week payment for Conwy’s poorest families.

The heated row broke out at a virtual meeting when councillors debated writing to the Government about cutting a temporary Universal Credit £20 payment.

Universal Credit is paid to people on lower incomes or who are out of work, and the Government temporarily increased the benefit by £20 to assist people during the COVID pandemic.

But the Government cut the extra £20 two months ago, and this caused Labour to put a motion before the council to write to Westminster and request the £20 payment be reinstated.

Cllr Chris Hughes spoke to councillors in a virtual meeting and insisted the cuts meant 9,655 Conwy residents on lower incomes were now £20 a week poorer.

But leader Cllr Charlie McCoubrey argued more evidence was needed before Conwy wrote to the Government, labelling the motion ‘gesture politics’ – at least until a study was conducted.

Cllr McCoubrey made an amendment to the motion, which was seconded by Cllr Harry Saville, for the matter to first go to committee where evidence could be gathered.

The vote landed in favour of the leader’s amendment (27-23, one abstained), but Cllr Ken Stevens accused the leader of delaying action.

“I don’t see what the problem is. We know how much they are going to lose,” said Cllr Stevens.

“I don’t want this kicked into the long grass where we discuss this, and it goes here, and it goes there, and six months down the line, we might send the letter. We need to do it now. People are losing the money now, not six months’ time.”

Cllr Anne McCaffrey agreed.

“The only decision we are making here is to send a letter giving a view,” she said.

“I don’t think that is hard to determine, and I don’t want to give this decision for cabinet to make (after going to a committee). I think all 59 of us (councillors) should be counted in this (decision), and there is a diverse range of views.

“I think it is quite dispiriting not to hear the people who have lost this £20, the people who are poor and out of work, and there are lots and lots of those.”

Cllr McCoubrey said: “We’ve got record numbers of (job) vacancies. This isn’t time sensitive. I’m a trustee in a food bank. I absolutely understand problems people face, but I’m not a fan of gesture politics. The letter has got to be written. It has got to be credible. It’s got to contain information that actually shows the situation in Conwy today. It can highlight the issues in food banks. It can highlight the numbers on universal credit. It can show evidence.”

He added: “To write a meaningless letter, for me, is just gesture politics. I’m absolutely happy for us to consider this. These are some of our most vulnerable residents. It may be more than Chris’ calculations, so we need to have the facts.”

But Cllr Chris Hughes accused the leader of discrediting his figures.

“The leader has tried to downplay the value of the information provided in the notice of the motion by suggesting it is inaccurate,” he said.

“These are not figures I’ve written or made up. These are not figures provided by the Labour Party. These figures were provided to me by the head of revenue of Conwy’s revenue and benefits department, and we all know the name of that individual.

“The leader said he wasn’t interested in gesture politics. This affects 9,655 residents. That is a massive proportion of Conwy residents, and it is wrong to disregard those people. They are as important as any other person in Conwy. Referring this to scrutiny, as Cllr Ken Stevens said, is nothing more than an attempt to kick this into the long grass.”

The matter will now be looked into by a scrutiny committee before Conwy decides on whether to write to Westminster.