The poorest families in Stockton North will be hit the hardest by the Emergency Budget according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
The Budget documentation produced by the Chancellor in June claimed that the richest would be harder hit by the cuts than those with the poorest income. However, this excluded the effects of cuts such as the housing benefit, Disability Living Allowance and tax credits, which has now been calculated to hit lower income families than those at the top.
The IFS analysis shows the final effect of the cuts in 2014-15 where it becomes regressive within the bottom nine groups of the income distribution. The report shows that the low income households of working age, particularly those with families, will lose the most as a proportion of income compared to the upper half of income households of a working age without children.
Alex Cunningham, MP for Stockton North, believes the IFS show the Government up for what they are really doing.
“The ConDem coalition is continuing to cut 350,000 public jobs which will add to the number of people who are looking for work and those who they plan to get off benefits. Furthermore, this will create a higher proportion of people looking for work with limited jobs available.”
“Those who will or do work on the basic minimum wage will struggle daily to make ends meet, particularly with the cut on tax credits. Including the tax credits, around 29% were still in low income and 23% were no longer classed as low income. But with the credits cut off, this will increase the amount of people in low income to more than fifty percent.”
But, that is only the start. Charities such as Crisis are already becoming increasingly worried about more people ending up homeless or in spiralling debt to pay off the rent. Others who are concerned with the disabled, such as MENCAP, show their concern about the new assessments that are going to be introduced to reduce the numbers of benefits given. They worry that this would affect those who need it the most and would discriminate against those with learning difficulties.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the North East region has one of the lowest weekly wages in the UK. If the prediction of the cuts becomes accurate, it will prove to affect a majority of residents within Stockton North.
Alex added, “I shudder to think how many of the children and families will end up in severe poverty again, as the Tory/ Lib Dem Government slash services and jobs.”