Almost 600 computers have been lost from libraries in the North West since 2010, with 58 Jobcentre computers have been cut in the North West since 2014.

This is a digital exclusion double-whammy that punishes the poorest in our society, especially as Universal Credit applications are moved online; one in five unemployed people do not have access to the internet.

This comes following recent Lloyds Bank research showing that10%of the population ofthe North Westhave zero digital skills.

MP Rosie Cooper told QLocal this lunchtime: “Public library and Jobcentre closures are causing a crisis of cuts to public computers. This is a digital exclusion double-whammy.

“One in five people out of work don’t have access to the internet, and under this Tory Government there are fewer and fewer places for them to turn.

“For people who need to fill in Universal Credit or job applications, access to a computer is essential. Computer cuts are yet another example of the vicious cycle of Tory austerity.”