Born in 1946 and brought up in Cupar, Fife, I was educated at the local school - 
It comes after new figures revealed that Boris Johnson’s plan to remove the £20 per week uplift in April would hit more than 14,000 people in Aberdeenshire.
Latest statistics show that in November 2020 there were 14,189 people claiming Universal Credit in Aberdeenshire in November. If all these people remain on Universal Credit until April, then they will be affected by the removal of the £20 uplift.
The Scottish Government has repeatedly called on the Westminster Tory government to maintain the £20 boost to Universal Credit and extend it to legacy benefits - yet all six Scottish Tory MPs abstained on a vote which would have ensured that.
Aberdeenshire East MSP Gillian Martin and Banffshire and Buchan Coast MSP Stewart Stevenson have called on north-east Tories not to vote in support of the £20 removal.
Anti-poverty think-tank the Resolution Foundation estimates that the cut to Universal Credit by £20 a week could see the incomes of low-income families fall by more than four per cent (4%) and plunge a further 820,000 children into poverty across the UK.
Commenting, Gillian Martin MSP said:
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| Picture predates COVID and social distancing |
“By reducing social security payments by £1000 a year, in the middle of an economic crisis, the Tories could push people here in Aberdeenshire further into hardship and poverty.
"There must be an immediate U-turn on this, to avoid worsening poverty and inequality across the country during the Covid-19 crisis - and I would urge local MSPs to support this.
"Although the Scottish Government has led the way in tackling poverty, with new benefits like the Scottish Child Payment and a social security system based on dignity and respect, this progress is being severely undermined by Tory cuts.”
"There must be an immediate U-turn on this, to avoid worsening poverty and inequality across the country during the Covid-19 crisis - and I would urge local MSPs to support this.
"Although the Scottish Government has led the way in tackling poverty, with new benefits like the Scottish Child Payment and a social security system based on dignity and respect, this progress is being severely undermined by Tory cuts.”
Commenting, Stewart Stevenson MSP said:
“It is crucial that the £20 uplift to Universal Credit is made permanent and extended to legacy benefits, as part of a wider package to boost incomes after a decade of damaging Tory austerity cuts.
"Scotland shouldn't have to wait for Westminster to act to protect the incomes of the most vulnerable in our society. The only way to secure a strong, fair and equal recovery is for Scotland to become an independent country - with the full powers needed to build a fairer society."
"Scotland shouldn't have to wait for Westminster to act to protect the incomes of the most vulnerable in our society. The only way to secure a strong, fair and equal recovery is for Scotland to become an independent country - with the full powers needed to build a fairer society."
