News from Southampton Labour

14,000 Southampton families set to lose under Tory tax plans

Labour MP Alan Whitehead today demanded that local Tory candidates come clean with people in Southampton about their plans to slash financial help for local families.

Alan Whitehead MP said: “The Tories’ cuts to Child Tax Credits would hit families in Southampton and across the country hard.

“After trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes for months, it has now emerged that to make their plans for immediate public spending cuts add up, the Tories would need to axe Child Tax Credits for families earning as little as £31,000 per year.

“The Tories seem incapable of levelling with local people about which families will have their Child Tax Credits removed. In Southampton alone, over 14,000 young families struggling to make ends meet would see a direct drop in their income if the Tories carried out these cuts.

“That’s why I am calling on the three local Tory candidates in Southampton to come clean and admit which local families will fall victim to the Tory Child Tax Credit cull. It’s the least that they can do.”

Labour yesterday stepped up their campaign against the Tory plans with the launch of a targeted online advert campaign on the influential Mumsnet website. The advert warns families that they will “get less than they bargained for” if the Tory plans to cut Child Tax Credits are introduced.

In a letter to Tory Shadow Chancellor George Osborne last week, Labour Cabinet Minister Liam Byrne said:

“If you take £400 million out of child tax credits in 2010, then 1.3 million middle class families on household incomes as low as £31,000 will lose their child tax credit.

“That is not backing Britain’s great middle class. It is giving them a kick in the teeth.”

Other news from Southampton Labour

• Water bills hiked as Southampton Council and Southern Water waste public money - 2 February 2012
• Southampton Labour MPs urge constituents to claim free heating and insulation help - 1 February 2012
• Welfare changes hit poorest areas in Southampton hardest - 1 February 2012