​Budget cuts will impact disproportionately on Scots families warns sturgeon

Scotland’s first minister says David Cameron is short-changing the poor and vulnerable while the better off profit from Tories' austerity agenda.

Nicola Sturgeon made the comments as she revealed figures showing that up to 250,000 households in Scotland will be affected by tax credit changes, outlined in last week’s budget, by the time they are introduced in April 2016.

The Scottish Government paper says the changes will, in effect, cost working families an average of £1,000 per year – a figure backed by the research undertaken by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

A planned increase to the minimum wage is not enough to compensate for the impact of the budget on lower income households, who will have their net income cut as a result, the research shows.

And while Scotland’s lowest earners shoulder further cuts, an increase in the higher rate threshold for income tax will only benefit individuals earning over £42,385 – earned by only 15% of Scottish income taxpayers.

Austerity hasn’t worked - Nicola Sturgeon

Sturgeon said: “These figures prove that the chancellor is cutting disproportionately from the poorest and most vulnerable sections of society, short-changing those on low incomes and removing work incentives, whilst giving tax breaks to the better-off.

“The changes in the minimum wage, whilst welcome, are nowhere near enough to offset these changes. The UK government’s budget simply encourages inequality.

“Tax credits form an important part of the tax and welfare system, particularly to support working families on low incomes, and the stark and tragic reality is that almost 250,000 families in Scotland will be on average £1,000 a year worse off because of these tax credit changes.

“The UK government’s budget continues the misguided austerity programme, which is not just unfair but damaging to the economy – undermining attempts to stimulate sustained and widely shared growth.

“Austerity hasn’t worked and it is astonishing that the UK government continues to attack low paid workers, ignoring the fact that their polices do little more than hit the most vulnerable the hardest.”

Last week a raft of organisations attacked Osborne’s budget for targeting families and the poor as part of an ambition to cut £12 billion off the country’s welfare bill.

John Dickie, head of Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland, said: “All hard- pressed families want is a fair chance to give their children the best start in life.

“They need the chancellor to tackle low pay and soaring living expenses. Instead, the chancellor’s cuts have made life harder for low-income parents trying to do the right thing for their children.”