Hastings Lib Dems welcome Chancellor’s U-turn on tax credit cuts in Autumn Statement

Nick Perry, pictured in 2012, of Hastings and Rye Lib Dems

He announced in his Spending Review that due to improved public finances the Government could reach a surplus while cutting less in the early years of this Parliament.

The proposed changes could have seen some families lose out by £1,300 a year and the House of Lords approved a motion last month calling for the cuts to be delayed until their full impact was understood and transitional protection for low income households.

Nick Perry, for the Hastings and Rye Liberal Democrats, said: “The Chancellor’s U-turn on tax credits cuts is good news for working families in Hastings and Rye; and Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords will be proud of the part they played in his change of heart.

“We should make no mistake: George Osborne and Amber Rudd [Hastings and Rye MP] will have been thinking about their own futures as much as any of ours; and ‎that the Liberal Democrats have, true to our word, acted to oppose unfair welfare changes, whilst the Labour Party has abstained time and again, letting down the working people they say they defend.”

Mr Osborne said earlier today: “I’ve had representations that these changes to tax credits should be phased in. I’ve listened to the concerns. I hear and understand them.

And because I’ve been able to announce today an improvement in the public finances, the simplest thing to do is not to phase these changes in, but to avoid them altogether.

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