Christina McKelvie MSP has again hit out at the “vicious austerity cuts” imposed in George Osborne’s budget.

Ms McKelvie said: “In this Constituency of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, 3,400 families in work, with 5,800 children, are going to feel the loss of tax credits where it hurts most – on the lives and wellbeing of those children.

“So much for making work pay. Here are families desperately struggling to make ends meet, often in low-paid jobs or on zero-hours contracts, and they are being told that the Government sees fits to take more money out of their pockets to the tune of around £1,000 a year on average.”

 
New figures from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) show that 197,200 families in Scotland with a total of 346,000 children have been hit by the changes to tax credits.
 
These figures come in the aftermath of an IFS report showing that the vast majority of children in poverty in the UK live in working households as the Tory government’s relentless assault on the working poor continues. 
 
“The Tory government has no sense of shame. While children in working families are forced into poverty, George Osborne is happy to intensify the process. The concept of those in need is one that doesn’t enter into the Tory consciousness,” Ms McKelvie added.