George Osborne should change course on tax credits - says Nicola Sturgeon
Nicola Sturgeon will call on the Chancellor to abandon ``potentially catastrophic'' cuts to tax credits which she says will hurt many of those most in need of help.
Nicola Sturgeon will call on the Chancellor to abandon potentially catastrophic'' cuts to tax credits which she says will hurt many of those most in need of help.
The First Minister will set out her case as she delivers the annual Jimmy Reid Memorial Lecture at Glasgow University on the eve of George Osborne's spending review.
Mr Osborne has already agreed to set out transitional arrangements to help people hit by tax credit cuts after facing defeat on the issue in the House of Lords, but opposition parties want him to reverse his decision.
Scottish Labour has promised to restore tax credits in Scotland when new powers over taxation and welfare are devolved to Holyrood while the SNP has also vowed to make up any shortfall.
Ms Sturgeon will say: Tomorrow, the Chancellor of the Exchequer will announce the results of the UK Government's spending review. He has a chance - possibly a final chance - to change course on some potentially catastrophic decisions.
For example, if all of the UK Government's proposed tax credit changes are implemented, around 200,000 families with children in Scotland stand to lose an average of approximately ÂŁ3,000 a year.
More than three-quarters of the families who receive tax credits have at least one person who works.
The cuts are directly targeted at working people on low incomes and their children. They hurt many of the people we most need to help.''
She will add: I call again tonight on the Chancellor to reverse his decision to cut tax credits when he has the opportunity to do so tomorrow.
If he doesn't do so, the Scottish Government will set out proposals to protect the incomes of low-paid families in our budget in December.''
Ms Sturgeon will also tell her audience there was no consultation before the cuts were announced and no mention of them in the Tories' election manifesto.
This is something which is being done to people - to working families and their children - with no opportunity for meaningful debate or discussion.
If you reflect on the opening of Jimmy Reid's rectorial address - its evocation of 'the despair and hopelessness that pervades people who feel with justification that they have no real say in shaping or determining their own destinies' - it's hard to avoid the conclusion that UK Government policy is not tackling alienation, but breeding it.''