SNP MP Martin Docherty-Hughes has said the Tory claim to make work pay “lies in tatters”, as a new report reveals a decade of cuts to tax credits and Universal Credit has slashed family incomes and pushed children into poverty.
The Austerity Generation report published by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), based on analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), reveals working families with children have been hit hardest by Tory cuts, with losses reaching thousands of pounds a year.
CPAG says the Tory government has “broken” its promise of greater rewards from work, warning that Universal Credit cuts will put 1million more children into poverty in a “colossal failure of public policy”, and that Tory policies have created “an austerity generation whose childhoods and life chances will be scarred”.
Martin Docherty-Hughes, MP for West Dunbartonshire, said:
“The findings of this report by the Child Poverty Action Group is further evidence of the devastating impact of Tory austerity on the poorest and most vulnerable in our communities.
“Too many hard-pressed families in West Dunbartonshire and across the country are struggling as a result of Tory social security cuts, rising inflation and increased living costs. The UK government must change direction, stop the disastrous roll out of Universal Credit and fix these deep-rooted problems, before even more households are needlessly driven into poverty and financial crisis.
“I urge the Tory UK Chancellor to use the upcoming Autumn Budget to reverse these cuts and take the long-overdue action needed to boost family incomes.”
Alison Garnham, Chief Executive, Child Poverty Action Group, said:
“This report is the closest anyone has come to producing a cumulative impact assessment of a decade of social security cuts on families with children.
“It’s an incredibly detailed piece of work but its basic story is straightforward and shaming: since 2010, rather than investing in our children, government policy has been creating an Austerity Generation whose childhoods and life chances will be scarred by a decade of political decisions to stop protecting their living standards. This is the choice that’s being made in our names.”
The report by the Child Poverty Action Group is available here: http://cpag.org.uk/content/austerity-generation-impact-decade-cuts-family-incomes-and-child-poverty
