MPs Gale & McInlay Shit On Thanet's Poorest

Thanet is one of the most deprived places in the country. Unemployment is much higher than the national average, wages are amongst the lowest in south east England and the Government’s recently published Indices of Deprivation rank Thanet as the most deprived local government area  in Kent, the second most deprived local government area in the south east and the 35^th most deprived area in the country. Being so deprived it would be reasonable to assume that many families in Thanet receive tax credits to provide them with a basic standard living. And so they do. The latest Government figures estimate that 16,400 Thanet families receive working and/ or child tax credits. One of the highest rates of tax credit payments in the country. 11,300 of these families include working adults employed mainly in low paid and part-time jobs. 21,000 children in Thanet live in families receiving tax credits. These statistics reveal the alarming extent of poverty and deprivation in Thanet which verges on the Dickensian

For MPs Roger Gale and Craig McKinlay to vote to reduce tax credits is nothing less than a kick in the face for tens of thousands of the poorest men, women and children in Thanet. For these families tax credits are an essential source of extra income which just about enables them to get by. To reduce these payments will make life incredibly difficult for people who are already struggling hard to make ends meet.  And don’t be fooled by David Cameron and  George Osbourne's promises that most people receiving tax credits will be no worse off because the cuts will be offset by the Living Wage and increases in personal allowances. This is simply not true. The much respected think tanks the Resolution Foundation and the Institute of Fiscal Studies have both calculated that even allowing for the Living Wage and the increase in personal tax allowances, most recipients of tax credits will be much worse off. Many up to £1,300 per year. Research by the House of Commons Library and the Trades Union Congress supports this conclusion as well.  

So deep is the concern about the impact of tax credit cuts, that many charities and campaign groups have spoken out. Citizens Advice, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, The Child Poverty Action Group and Carers UK, to name but a few, have all criticised the Government for cutting the income of some of the poorest families in the country. It beggars belief how Roger Gale and Craig McKinlay, who both enjoy the benefits of well paid jobs in Parliament, can have the gall to vote to shit on some of the poorest families in their constituencies, when there were plenty of other options to reduce government spending, such as taxing those more able to afford it, or ending the £120 billion Trident Missile replacement programme. Shame on the both of them.

Extract from Hansard 20 October
That this House calls on the Government to reverse its decision to cut tax credits, which is due to come into effect in April 2016. NOES Gale, Sir Roger Mackinlay, Craig