Figures sourced from the House of Commons Library by Alex Salmond MP show that thousands of Scotland’s working families with children are due to lose out by up to £1,000 per year thanks to the Chancellor’s budget. In total 346,000 children across Scotland are in families set to lose out from the proposed cuts to tax credits. The reduction to child tax credit and working tax credit will overpower the benefit from the Chancellor’s much-wanted increase to the National Minimum Wage.
Drew Hendry, MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey said:
“While the Tories congratulate themselves on a new raft of welfare cuts, over 3900 working families in this constituency will lose up to £1000 a year from their family budget.
“Once again, this out of touch Tory Government has targeted those struggling most to make ends meet. These dramatic figures, produced by the House of Commons Library, show that the reduction to child tax credit will drive over 7,100 children on our doorsteps into deeper poverty.
“Scotland is one of the wealthiest countries in the developed world yet more than one in five of Scotland’s children are officially recognised as living in poverty. Children and young people growing up in poverty face limited life chances and I, for one, do not accept that any child should grow up without a fair start in life. The UK Government should be taking action to reverse, not increase, child poverty.
“This Tory Government have still not realised that austerity and regressive policies do not work and until they do, it is the children from low income families who continue to pay the price.”