Ferguson challenges Tory candidates over Tax Credit cuts

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> Ferguson challenges Tory candidates over Tax Credit cuts
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> SNP Council Group Leader Andy Ferguson is today (Monday) challenging the Tory candidates for Galloway & West Dumfries and Dumfriesshire constituencies to say where they stand on impending cuts to Tax Credits by the UK Tory Government.
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> Figures provided by the independent Scottish Parliament Information Centre show that 5,600 families in Galloway & West Dumfries and 5,100 families in Dumfriesshire stand to lose out next year as a result of the cuts, with some families set to lose as much as £3,000 a year.
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> Cllr Ferguson said:
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> “These figures make for sobering reading – 10,700 families across Dumfries & Galloway are going to lose out as a result of Tory Tax Credit cuts and many stand to lose out in a big way – to the tune of £3,000 a year.
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> “That’s £250 every month out of the pockets of some of our lowest-income families. I think a lot of us would struggle to cope with that sort of financial loss and to be facing that and worrying about how to provide for your children will be a terrifying prospect.
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> “The fact is that these cuts will only serve to push people further into poverty. This region has the unenviable reputation of having the lowest average wages in Scotland and this ill-considered assault on poor families will only make matters worse.
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> “For our local Tory candidates in next year’s Scottish Parliament election, I think the people in this region deserve to know whose side they are on – George Osborne’s or the working people of Dumfries & Galloway?
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> “Because it simply can’t be both, and if they support these cuts, that choice will haunt them every single day from now to the Scottish election next May. People in this region deserve to know where Finlay Carson and Oliver Mundell stand on this issue.”
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