Warnings over cuts in Budget

Chancellor George Osborne will reveal his post-election budget today with what many are predicting as sweeping cuts to public spending.

The welfare bill will be slashed by £12bn, and spending in other departments is also expected to be cut as the Chancellor aims to run a surplus.

The SNP and Labour have warned the cuts could hit the poorest in society hardest.

The reduction of tax credits, which has been hinted at by both the Chancellor and Prime Minister David Cameron, was described by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as “a frightening indication” of cuts to come, which would “hit Scotland’s poorest children and families hard”.

Labour’s Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said the poor were “bearing the brunt” of the fiscal policy.

“This Government needs to be tackling the root causes of the rising welfare bill– low pay and rising housing costs – to bring down the deficit in a sustainable way.

“The Scottish Government also has a significant role to play, as they control housing policy and, under the Scotland Bill, will gain far greater control over welfare. They must tell us how they will use these powers to support vulnerable families and those on low incomes,” he said.

Meanwhile a coalition of ten Scottish charities and the Scottish Commissioner for Children and Young People wrote to Osborne ahead of the budget, warning reductions in housing benefit, a lowering of the welfare cap and substantial cuts to tax credits would lead to further rises in child poverty.

“Child poverty is the darkest shadow cast upon our nation. Rather than indiscriminate and ideologically driven cuts to the welfare state, we ask you to act with compassion and understanding, to champion the living wage and to take positive steps to ensure that cuts, if they are to be made, do not fall heaviest upon the working poor, women and children who will suffer as a result,” said the letter.