‘Punishing us’: despair as families face real-term cut to universal credit

Already tough times expected to get worse for millions if Truss drops pledge to raise benefits in line with inflation

Such is the Begum family's financial strife that seven-year-old Anisa recently told her mother they were so poor they might as well move to where her grandmother lives: Bangladesh.

Fleeing to one of the world's more impoverished countries may seem strange, but the fact it is being discussed in one east London home is telling of widening desperation. Now, at the end of an already gruelling week, things could be about to get worse for millions with real-terms welfare cuts reportedly under consideration by a government that recently cut taxes for the rich.