Press Release: Liam Byrne condemns George Osborne's attack on Birmingham's children

Press Release:

Liam Byrne condemns George Osborne's attack on Birmingham's children Tuesday 30th September Liam Byrne today condemned George Osborne's attack on Birmingham's children as the politics of 'you're on your own'. George Osborne's freeze of working age social security payments such as tax credits will trap thousands of Birmingham children living in working families deeper into poverty. Meanwhile the Chancellor also announced a £3 billion-a-year tax cut for the richest 1%. House of Commons library figures for Birmingham show that 33,900 families are in receipt of working tax credits. Liam Byrne said: 'Child poverty already costs our city over £1 billion. Today we needed help. Yet what we got was a fresh attack. Osborne's attack on help like tax credits is going to plunge yet more children in working families into poverty. 'Nearly 70% of the people hit the last time the Tories did this were families with children'. 'Only George Osborne could stand up in the ward with some of the worst child poverty in Britain and announce this fresh attack. He seems determined to ensure a generation of nearly 100,000 Birmingham children grow up in a poverty from which there is no escape'. Liam Byrne, Cllr John Cotton and Tim Evans earlier this year published Labour's review of child poverty in Birmingham highlighting the £1 billion cost of child poverty to the city - and the 40% rise in child self-harm cases in city A+E departments since 2009/10. Many health professionals believe this is directly linked to poverty pressure.

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