SNP candidate for Renfrewshire North and West Natalie Don has said ‘it’s blatantly obvious’ the Tory government must urgently scrap the Benefit Cap to avoid more families and children in Renfrewshire being pushed into poverty - after stats revealed that the number of households hit by the ‘cruel’ policy has shot up. New figures revealed that the number of Scottish households affected by the Benefit Cap has nearly doubled during the pandemic, from around 3,300 in January to around 6,400 in August.

The stats show that during this time the average amount lost due to the Benefit Cap was around £50 per week, or £2,600 per year. A large majority (97%) of these households contain children, while just over 66% were lone parent families. There were no couples without children who were affected by the Benefit Cap.

Cllr Natalie Don said:

“It’s blatantly obvious that the Tories must scrap this cruel policy that is harming people and families across Scotland. The SNP have continually opposed their disgraceful record on poverty while out of touch politicians in London continue plunging vulnerable people into debt, hardship and hopelessness.”

Boris Johnson and his Tory chums are happy to stick their heads in the sand and ignore the criticism of their shameful record on poverty, which has been condemned by the United Nations, countless poverty charities and experts across the world.

These latest figures are grim and show that the number of people impacted by the Benefit Cap has essentially doubled during the pandemic. If the Tories were really serious about improving people's lives they would scrap this harmful policy now, to avoid plunging more families and children into poverty through the Covid-19 crisis.

“The Scottish Government continue to mitigate the worst of these callous Tories policies but it shouldn’t be left to them to pick up the pieces all the time. We could do so much more to tackle poverty and inequality if Scotland had the full powers of independence."