More than a third of Scottish families with children will be £1,040 a year worse off if the planned Tory cut to Universal Credit goes ahead in October.
Staggering figures show that chancellor Rishi Sunak’s clawback of the £20 a week increase to UC and Working Tax credit introduced in lockdown will affect 63 per cent of families with kids in one Glasgow constituency.
This impact will be felt by 37 per cent of families with children all across Scotland, according to the research by the respected poverty campaign organisation the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
In 52 of the 59 Westminster constituencies, over a quarter of working-age families with children will be impacted by the cut, which will strip money from families’ pockets and local economies.
Hardest hit will be Glasgow which contains the three constituencies in which over half of all families with children will be impacted.
In Glasgow Central a massive 63 per cent of families will be affected. In Glasgow South West 55 per cent and in Glasgow North East 54 per cent of families will lose out.
But the cut will have far-reaching consequences across Scotland.
Among the constituencies in which over four in ten families with children will lose out are Dundee West (49 per cent); Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (44 per cent); Aberdeen North (42 per cent) and North Ayrshire & Arran (43 per cent).
Three in ten families with children in the Moray seat of Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross wll be affected by the cut.
Some 3,150 families with children in the marginal seat will experience the cut.
Gordon, another marginal constituency which was won by the SNP from the Conservatives with a majority of 891 at the 2019 election, will see 2,390 families with children impacted.
Chris Birt, of Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “Child poverty was already rising before Covid-19 and it is a scandal that the UK Government’s strategy for economic recovery is to plunge families who are already struggling into deeper poverty and debt.
‘ Now is the time for MPs and MSPs of all stripes to step up and oppose this cut to their constituents’ incomes. It’s not too late for the Prime Minister and Chancellor to change course and reverse this decision.”
“While the responsibility for this devastating cut lies with the UK Government, it highlights the urgent need for the full roll-out and doubling of the Scottish Child Payment to support families with children in Scotland.”
According to the analysis, on average 19 per cent of all working-age families in Scotland (with or without children) will experience this cut to their income, which is around 452,000 families.
The average number of families with children who stand to be impacted is 37 per cent for Scotland and 39 per cent UK-wide.
The independent Joseph Rowntree Foundation used the latest official data released last week to produce a comprehensive analysis of which UK parliamentary constituencies will be most affected by the cut which is scheduled for 6 October.
Alison Thewliss MP, the SNP Treasury spokeswoman, said: “My Glasgow Central constituency will be the hardest hit of any in Scotland - with 63 per cent of families with children set to be impacted - and so I am once again urging Rishi Sunak to U-turn on his plans and instead make the £20 uplift permanent and extend it to legacy benefits.
“The fact that Tories continue to bury their heads in the sand over the impact these cruel cuts will have on families up and down the country shows their true colours - they really are the nasty party.”
But Scottish Labour’s Pam Duncan-Glancy MSP said the SNP Government could not “sit on its hands” over such staggering figures.
The Glasgow MSP and Scottish Labour’s Social Security said: “This sets out exactly just how devastating this cut will be. We know that this money is used for food and basics like travel to work or school. The UK government must think again and keep the uplift.”
She added: “The Scottish Government can’t sit on their hands either. They must urgently use the powers they have here in Scotland to immediately double the Scottish Child Payment and work quickly towards a Minimum Income Guarantee.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said the Government is “not done helping people” despite the end of the temporary £20 uplift.
During a visit to Scotland last month, he said the focus was on helping people find work and that the latest data on the labour market was “really positive”.
