EVERY Scottish household is paying £450 a year because the UK Government's policies are forcing more people on to the dole, Margaret Curran, the Shadow Scottish Secretary, has insisted.
"The Tory-led Government's catalogue of errors is turning into a catalogue of misery for families across Scotland," she told the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations.
Ms Curran said the Coalition's £18 billion of welfare cuts, £2bn of which would fall north of the Border, would have a "brutal effect on Scotland".
She added: "The cuts to benefits including child tax credit means that a baby born to a low income family now is around £1500 worse off compared to their brother or sister born two years ago.
"It means that 7900 disabled children in Scotland will lose out as a result of cuts to the severe disability premium.
"These children will lose on average £1400 each year. And 170,000 households are going to be £19 a week worse off after the introduction of Universal Credit."
On housing, she said many tenants would lose £600 in their annual income because of the new under-occupancy rules.
"This change alone could affect 95,000 households in the socially rented sector in Scotland with people losing between £27 and £65 per month" the Shadow Secretary of State claimed.
Ms Curran warned the most vulnerable people were facing a double squeeze, "squeezed by the Tories' cuts, then squeezed because their poor decisions are forcing more people on to benefits".
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