Esther McVey is facing calls to resign after issuing an apology for misleading parliament about the government’s faltering welfare changes in an apparent breach of ministerial code.

The work and pensions secretary was accused of employing “mega-Trumpisms” to deceive MPs when she claimed that Whitehall’s independent spending watchdog had called for the universal credit rollout to be accelerated.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats called for the MP for Tatton to step down after the National Audit Office’s head, Sir Amyas Morse, said she had misinterpreted a highly critical report which had actually called for the reforms to be paused.



It was the first time Whitehall’s independent spending watchdog had released personal correspondence with a minister, and is a escalation of the tensions in Whitehall over the government’s insistence that the £15.8bn reforms are on track.

In the letter to McVey, Morse wrote that she was wrong to tell MPs that the NAO had complained that universal credit was being rolled out too slowly when it had suggested a “pause” in the work.

She should not have said the NAO believed universal credit was working when the report said this was not proven, Morse said. She should not have claimed that the report had not taken into account recent improvements in welfare, when it was signed off days earlier by her department, he added.

The ministerial code states that ministers must give accurate and truthful information to parliament.

Two hours after the Morse letter release, McVey apologised to the House of Commons, saying she should not have claimed that the NAO wanted welfare reforms to be speeded up.

“The NAO report did not say that and I want to apologise to the House for inadvertently misleading you. What I wanted to say was that the NAO said there was no practical alternative,” she said.

McVey also told MPs she was “working on setting up a meeting with the NAO” about other matters, but that she stood by her claims that the auditors’ report did not take into account recent changes to universal credit. “The impact of these changes are still being felt and therefore, by definition, couldn’t have been fully taken into account by the NAO report,” she said.

The NAO’s report was released last month and was seen as a critical account of the government’s welfare changes, which are supposed to squeeze six separate benefits into a single system.



Auditors highlighted the hardship caused to claimants by delays in receiving payments and concluded that the new system was “not value for money now, and that its future value for money is unproven”.

On 21 June, McVey told MPs the report “did not take account” of recent changes to the welfare system. “Our analysis shows that universal credit is working; we already know it helps more people into work – and stay in work – than the legacy system,” she said.

Asked about the report’s findings in the Commons on 2 July, McVey told MPs it was “unfortunate that the NAO was unable to take into account the significant changes recently implemented in universal credit” which addressed “many of the concerns” raised in its report.



Despite the report’s recommendation that the programme should not be expanded until it was clear it could cope with additional claimants, McVey said the NAO had expressed concern that UC was “rolling out too slowly” and should “continue at a faster rate”.

She is expected to face further parliamentary scrutiny over the debacle after Frank Field, chair of the work and pensions committee, asked the Speaker, John Bercow, for an urgent question as early as Thursday.



Field told the Guardian: “The secretary of state needs to be questioned about the three mega-Trumpisms which the NAO says are untrue.”

MPs will ask McVey why her apology failed to address Morse’s complaint that she had misinterpreted the report to claim that the NAO had stated that universal credit was working.

They are also expected to ask why McVey’s statement to parliament appeared to contradict the NAO’s insistence that the report was up to date. It is understood that the NAO team was making changes to its data until this June to make sure that it was aligned with the latest information.



The public accounts committee will question officials from McVey’s department on Monday about universal credit.



Esther McVey apologises for misleading parliament over universal credit - Politics live Read more

Margaret Greenwood, the shadow welfare secretary, said: “Esther McVey has admitted that she misled parliament. She did so not once but twice, on 21 June and 2 July, despite the fact that her own department had agreed the NAO report on 8 June. If she didn’t read [the NAO report] properly that’s incompetence. If she did read it properly and knowingly misled parliament then she should resign.”

The Liberal Democrats said McVey should resign or be sacked. The party’s welfare spokesman, Stephen Lloyd, said: “Theresa May should replace her with someone who has the humility to recognise that without significant changes, a national rollout of universal credit will cause considerable, unnecessary, hardship.”

The Tory MP Heidi Allen, a select committee member, said she would call for McVey to stand down if she failed to listen to the public’s concerns. “I think [the apology] probably is enough for today but we need to see her really, really, listening to the concerns that many of us have in getting it [UC] fit for purpose. If she doesn’t do that then no, I don’t think she is the right person for the job.”

In the letter, Morse made clear he was writing because he had not been able to set up a meeting with McVey.

“I am now reluctantly writing to you to clarify the facts,” he wrote, saying the NAO’s report had been signed off on 8 June. “Our report was fully agreed with senior officials in your department. It is based on the most accurate and up to date information from your department … it is odd that by Friday 15 June you feel able to say that the NAO ‘did not take into account the impact of our recent changes’.”

He added: “I’m also afraid your statement on 2 July, that the NAO was concerned that universal credit is currently rolling out too slowly and needs to continue at a faster rate, is also not correct. My recommendation makes clear that the department must ensure it is ready before it starts to transfer people over from previous benefits.”

Morse also criticised the minister for claiming the report showed that universal credit was working. “The department has not measured how many claimants are having difficulties … 40% of them said they were experiencing financial difficulties and 25% said they couldn’t make an online claim,” he wrote.

Before McVey’s statement Labour had called for her full apology, urging her to resign should she refuse to do so.