Kirsten Oswald demands halt to withdrawal of lifeline from East Renfrewshire families

Figures released by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation show how the planned £20 cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit, which is scheduled for October 6, will affect families across the UK.

In East Renfrewshire this will affect 4,690 (14 per cent) working age families and 2,520 (20 per cent) working-age families with children, directly cutting almost £5m per annum from the local economy.

Kirsten said: “If the Tories push ahead with this disastrous policy, it will hammer thousands of families here in East Renfrewshire and expose their promise of 'levelling up' as no more than empty rhetoric from a government that is out of touch with ordinary people.

"The Scottish Government has led the way in tackling poverty, with new benefits like the Scottish Child Payment, but Westminster has undermined their work by taking money away from these same families.”