THE Scottish Tories are set to “deliberately” make hundreds of thousands of Scottish families poorer by rubber-stamping Boris Johnson’s cuts to Universal Credit, the SNP have said.
The news comes after new research showed that some parts of Scotland would see more than half of all families with children under 18 will be affected by the cuts.
The London government hopes to cut the credit paid to these families by £20 a week, more than £1000 a year.
Despite acknowledging how vital a lifeline the extra funds had been, Scottish Tory MSP Craig Hoy defended the cuts on Friday morning.
Hoy told the BBC that the UK Government was making a difficult choice but that the “temporary” uplift to Universal Credit would “obviously” come to an end at some point.
READ MORE: SNP plan day of action against Tory plans to cut benefit
The Tory suggested that the Scottish Government should cover the shortfall which hundreds of thousands of Scots will soon face due to the cuts, but claimed that they would not due to the same financial constraints facing the UK Government.
The Scottish Tories’ defence of the UK Government’s cuts comes despite more than 60 Conservative MPs demanding the uplift remains in place, according to reports.
The cuts will affect more than 35,000 Scottish families with Tory MPs, according to data from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
More than 6000 of these are in the marginal Westminster constituency held by Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross, which he refused to contest at the Holyrood elections.
Commenting, the SNP’s work and pensions spokesperson David Linden MP (above) said the Scots Tories’ spinelessness “beggars belief”.
Linden said: "The Scottish Tories are deliberately making 400,000 Scottish families poorer by rubber-stamping Boris Johnson's devastating plan to cut Universal Credit by £1040 a year.
"It beggars belief that Douglas Ross and his Scottish Tory MPs are spinelessly backing these cuts, despite knowing that more than a third of families with children in Scotland will see their incomes slashed.
READ MORE: Tories to cut 'lifeline' £20 Universal Credit boost for 3.4m children next month
"The UK already suffers from the worst levels of poverty and inequality of any country in north west Europe, and thanks to Tory cuts in-work poverty has risen to record levels this century. There must be an urgent U-turn or more families will be pushed into crisis.
"It's now beyond doubt that the Tories have no intention of building a fair recovery from Covid - instead they are cementing poverty and inequality with more austerity cuts, which will wipe out the benefits of progressive SNP policies like the Scottish Child Payment.
"Independence is the only way to keep Scotland safe from Tory cuts. It is essential that Scotland becomes an independent country, with the full powers needed to boost incomes, eradicate poverty, and build the strong, fair and equal recovery we need."
The Scottish Tories have been approached for comment.
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