Last plea to Tories

The government is sticking to its guns over cuts to tax credits. To persuade the public (and their own MPs) of a plan that the electorate didn’t vote for, they’ve released figures that claim these cuts will save the public purse £15bn by 2016/17.

But the supposed savings will come at a high cost: estimates suggest that three million low-paid workers will lose ÂŁ1,300 a year. And with many people now considering giving up work altogether and claiming benefits this ‘saving’ of ÂŁ15bn might not be realistic.

Tonight there’ll be a vote in the Commons on the government’s proposed changes. If they pass, it’ll mean that from April the earnings threshold at which tax credits can be withdrawn will be slashed from £6,420 to £3,850.

Although the IFS (Institute of Fiscal Studies) hasn’t disputed the projected savings the Treasury has released today.

It has been said people on low incomes will be more affected by these welfare changes than any in the last Parliament.

Damages

The damages that will be wrought by these swingeing cuts are clear to MPs on both sides of the House. Conservative MP Steve Baker has said, “Lots of us don’t like the tax credit changes. Colleagues are well aware that some families will miss out.”

Labour has challenged MPs like Baker to defy party leadership and vote against the cuts, which they’ve dubbed the Work Penalty.

These are cuts that weren’t featured in the Conservatives’ manifesto, and consequently ones that the electorate didn’t vote for.

But the government is doing everything it possibly can to push them through; it threatened to suspend the House of Lords if it tried to kill off the tax credit cuts.

Shadow Treasury minister Seema Malhotra has lambasted the government’s decision on BBC Radio 4 today (October 20): “This choice is actually about many of these nurses, teachers and teaching assistants, carers, those who are on low incomes.

“It is going to backfire because what George Osborne is doing essentially is choosing between the working poor and the non-working poor when what he should be doing, if he is trying to balance the books, is making sure we can grow the economy.”

Many people could now give up work