‘Fresh attack’

Cutting child tax credits to axe ÂŁ5 billion from the welfare bill would hit far more people in work than out of work, according to a new briefing from the Resolution Foundation.

 
The Tories have been flagging up the move as part of £12 billion in benefit cuts as part a fresh round of austerity cuts expected in George Osborne’s July budget.

 
Struggling families with two children would lose up to ÂŁ1,700 a year, a huge chunk of family income. Two out of three families facing the cut are in-work.

 
Most of the cuts will hit the poorest third of households the hardest. The Treasury is currently looking at cutting back on the ‘child element’ of the tax credit which is paid to over 4m families.

 
Another study out this week warned of more woe for the public sector. The Institute of Fiscal Studies said Tory austerity cuts could cost another 800,000 public service jobs by 2020.

 
Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner noted that the Tories’ true colours were now coming through after securing a slim majority in May.

 
“Now the election is over the Tories have stopped pretending we’re all in it together,” he said. “Cuts of this nature would remove a huge part of the income struggling families are relying on to cope.”

 
“They are setting themselves up to launch a fresh attack on the poorest families,” Turner added. “A Tory party predominantly funded by a few hundred rich individuals is starting something akin to a class war.

 
“Fresh and worse attacks are being lined up across the public sector. Osborne says the economic sun is shining, while the thunder clouds are gathering in the real world.”

 
“The most vulnerable are facing attacks which will be very damaging to them. The services they rely on will also be undermined,” Turner went on to say.

 
“I would urge people to join this weekend’s protests. We must say loud and clear that we want austerity to stop and prosperity to start.”

 
The End Austerity Now protest, which, as UniteLive has reported, is set to be the largest demonstration in a generation, is taking place this weekend organised by the People’s Assembly.

 
There are numerous local protests and the national protest is in London.

 
The main meeting point for the protest is 12pm on Saturday, June 20th, outside the Bank of England. Protesters will then march to Parliament Square which is outside the Houses of Parliament.

 
Some of those who may struggle to do the full march are assembling opposite Downing Street at 1.30pm.

 
“We’ll be assembling the demonstration in the heart of the City of London right on the doorstep of the very people who created the crisis in the first place, the banks and their friends in Westminster,” a People’s Assembly spokesperson said.

 
“We demand that the bankers and elite should pay for the crisis and not the vast majority who had nothing to do with it.”

Come join us this Saturday — find out more here.