EVERYONE aged 18 to 24 should receive a £500 ‘Covid relief’ lump sum, nearly 100 Tory MPs say

Everyone aged 18 to 24 should be given a £500 lump sum to boost the coronavirus recovery, a group of almost 100 Tory MPs has demanded.

The One Nation caucus wants Boris Johnson to offer the ‘Covid relief payment’ in recognition the age group has been among those ‘worst affected by the pandemic’.

The centrist bloc, led by former Cabinet minister Damian Green, estimated that the giveaway would cost around £2.8billion.

In a report published today, the MPs demanded the £20-a-week rise in Universal Credit is made permanent and a planned £4billion cut to the foreign budget is axed.

Mr Green argued that the country ‘must target our limited resources to those that need our help the most’.

He said: ‘We believed that after Boris Johnson’s stunning 2019 election victory we would get Brexit done and move forward. 

Instead, we have spent the last year living through this incredibly challenging pandemic. To recover we need to acknowledge the state of the damage.

‘This global pandemic effect has had an unequal effect on our society. 

‘Although we have all made sacrifices, it is undeniable that younger people and children, lower income essential workers, and people in developing nations, are more disadvantaged than those of us who have been able to shield and maintain our incomes.’

The Tory MP, who served as Theresa May’s deputy, recognised the policy suggestions ‘may not poll well’, but he added: ‘What is building back better if not attempting to better our society, and Britain’s position in the world?’