POOR families in Tory-run Surrey are “teetering on the brink of financial ruin,” according to the Labour Party in the county.

Labour county councillor Robert Evans said that government plans to withdraw benefits related to the coronavirus pandemic “risk making life almost impossible for some of the poorest families in Surrey.”

On January 11 protection from eviction for families unable to pay their rent ends. 

Mr Evans has written to the county’s 11 MPs, all Conservatives, asking them to call for the eviction ban to remain in place.

He said: “I’m pleading with the Tory MPs to put pressure on Boris Johnson to put a stop to this plan. 

“If these evictions and repossessions are allowed to go ahead, some families in Surrey will be turfed out of their homes through no fault of their own, just the knock-on effects of Covid-19.”

The government also plans to end the £20 “uplift” payment to people trying to scrape by on universal credit.

Labour member of Waverley Council Nick Palmer said: “The government and their Surrey MPs must recognise that it is their political priorities over the last 10 years that have contributed to the crisis now hitting the poorest people in this generally rich country. 

“The years of austerity have left many UK households without any savings to fall back on.

“People must never forget: all Surrey’s MPs voted to cut school meals — before footballer Marcus Rashford forced a U-turn. 

“One day they must surely recognise the desperate situation in which some of their constituents found themselves.”