[BREAKING] TORY CUTS HIT SCOTS CHILDREN & FAMILIES 07 OCT 2014 Crippling Tory welfare cuts will hit one million children and 600,000 hard-pressed working families in Scotland, study reveals. Scots children and hard-pressed working families will pay the price if the Tories are re-elected and their plans to freeze child benefit, tax credits and jobseekers allowance are implemented. The study lays bare the crippling impact of the move – which will mean cuts in real terms. Chancellor George Osborne announced last week that child benefit, tax credits and jobseeker’s allowance will be frozen for two years if the Tories are re-elected in May. According to HM Revenue and Customs, the child benefit cut would affect about one million kids. And analysis by researchers at the Scottish Parliament warns that about 900,000 households will be hit. Two thirds of them have at least one person who works. SNP MSP Jamie Hepburn said: “The fact that the vast majority of families hit by the latest round of Tory welfare cuts are working families gives lie to the ludicrous Tory claim that their cuts are designed to make work pay. “These cuts are nothing more than an attempt to punish vulnerable people and to balance the books on the back of the working poor.” Just days ago, Citizens Advice Scotland revealed welfare reform is leaving disabled and sick Scots in poverty. Hepburn said: “The Westminster establishment has shown time and time again that it can’t be trusted on welfare. “It’s time that welfare powers were transferred from Westminster to Scotland to allow us to use the welfare state to build a fairer, more equal society, rather than to punish vulnerable people and the working poor.” dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/crippling-tory-welfare-cuts-hit-4392974
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 09:16:30 +0000