GORDON BROWN called on the government yesterday to scrap plans to abolish the extra £20-a-week universal credit currently paid to millions of families.

The year-long rise was introduced in April, after Britain went into lockdown, to help those who had lost their jobs.

In a speech to the Resolution Foundation, the former prime minister warned that failure to act urgently would lead to “community revolt,” adding that the real value of child benefits must be increased to prevent child poverty falling to levels not seen since official records began.

He said that research by the think tank showing that unemployment and reduced wages had already cut into the incomes of millions of families was a “must-read” for the government.

Mr Brown said that action was now urgent because March’s planned withdrawal of £20 from weekly universal-credit payments would automatically bring 700,000 more people into poverty — 300,000 of them children — as £6 billion of spending power is removed from an already fragile economy.

And 500,000 of the already poor will be plunged into even deeper poverty as they lose out on £1,000 a year, he said.

“Add to this the impact of rising unemployment, rising food prices and the continuing impact of the two-child limit and the cap on benefits and other social-security cuts now in train, and we face a worsening social crisis in the new year," said Mr Brown.

“Millions of families face the pressures of Christmas with falling savings or savings reduced to zero, and thus little cash to buy even the most basic of Christmas presents for their children without going into debt.”