Plaid Cymru Oppose Tax Credit Cuts

Tax Credits

Plaid Cymru has said the Chancellor’s trickery on tax credits is beginning to unravel as senior Conservative politicians begin to realise the damaging implications of the cuts, and has once again called on George Osborne to abandon the policy.

Member of Parliament Jonathan Edwards said the Conservative party’s plan to cut working tax credits from 13 million people across the UK will have a disproportionately negative effects on Wales where wages are generally lower.

Plaid Cymru MPs have been staunch opponents of the UK Government’s welfare reduction policies, often being the only political party in Wales to oppose such budget cuts since the Conservative party took office in 2010.

Following comments from Conservative Mayor of London, Boris Johnson at the party’s conference in Manchester today, Jonathan Edwards MP said the thinly-veiled attack from within the Chancellor’s own party shows that Tory politicians themselves are awakening to the repercussions tax credit cuts will have.

Plaid Cymru’s Treasury spokesperson Jonathan Edwards MP said:

“What is very clear now is that political support for the Chancellor’s tax credit trickery is beginning to unravel.

 “As Plaid Cymru warned in the aftermath of the emergency budget, cuts to tax credits will leave some of the poorest working households worse off, and will have a direct impact on spending in local economies.  This is a position also supported by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

 “With around 120,000 families in Wales dependent on working tax credits to make ends meet, the Conservative party’s plans will have a disproportionate impact in our communities where wages are generally lower.

 “If the Chancellor wants to reduce the costs of working tax credits, then such efforts must be supported with other tax changes and the introduction of a genuine living wage.  George Osborne’s cynical rebranding of the living wage doesn’t cut the mustard and will not fill the financial black hole families will face in losing their tax credits.

 “The contemptuous politics of the Chancellor has been exposed with even Tory politicians themselves awakening to the repercussions these cuts will have.  The Treasury must radically rethink this policy before the incomes of hard-pressed working people are depressed.”