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A Tory minister was branded “insensitive” tonight after boasting a £3,000 benefits cut can lead to a ”good outcome”.

Alok Sharma was accused of “patronising” hundreds of thousands of people losing out from new benefit Universal Credit.

He was defending new figures showing two-thirds of self-employed claimants will be worse off under UC compared to the old system.

The Office for Budget Responsibility said it expects 432,000 people to lose out on an average of £2,927 a year by 2023.

Yet Employment Minister Mr Sharma claimed it would “incentivise” the self-employed “to grow their earnings and become more productive and self-sufficient.”

The cut is due to a ‘Minimum Income Floor’, which bans the self-employed from getting any more benefits if their profits drop below minimum wage.

(Image: Getty)

Ministers argue the floor, which kicks in a year after a business sets up, will “incentivise” people to make sure they’re in “gainful” self-employment.

But critics say struggling entrepreneurs will be better off jobless - and the RSA think tank branded it a “disaster”.

Mr Sharma was asked about the cut, which was revealed in the OBR’s most recent annual report, in a written parliamentary question by Labour.

He replied: “As the OBR say in its report, the large implied losses per claimant are likely to prompt behavioural responses.

“We expect that some self-employed claimants will respond to this by increasing their monthly earnings from self-employment.

“Some will choose to work as an employee, and others will combine the two.

“All are potentially good outcomes for them, their families and the taxpayer.”

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Debbie Abrahams said: “Universal Credit risks being a total disaster for self-employed workers with greater uncertainty and reduced in-work support.

“This patronising and insensitive response shows the Tories have once again turned their backs on the self-employed.”

The Minimum Income Floor mainly affects people moving to UC from Tax Credits, with an estimated 302,000 people left worse off.

Other ‘losers’ are those on Child Tax Credit (67,000 cases), Housing Benefit (43,000 cases) and Employment and Support Allowance (10,000 cases), the OBR said.