‘AFTER the SYP recently passed a motion to oppose the cuts to public spending implemented by the current UK Government, I believe that it is only fitting to write about cuts to working tax credits.

The SYP already has an ongoing national campaign that is attempting to challenge the causes and stigmas that surround poverty, as it greatly impacts the lives of 1 in 5 Scottish children. SYP is campaigning to lower that number.

The UK Government believes that by reducing tax rates for low earners and by raising the National Minimum Wage to £7.20 for over 25's by next April, that by some miracle, the cuts to working tax credits that will affect around 3 million families (UK wide), won't actually put more children and young people into poverty, is beyond my knowledge.

Taking away almost 2 THOUSAND POUNDS, from people in need, most of them in the working class, is creating a working poor in Britain. Where mothers are working 16 hours a week because they cannot afford childcare, and won't earn enough to cover their rent and rates either.

The point I wish to make is, that by continuing to cut public spending on essential services such as education and healthcare, reducing the amount that families bring in per annum, and cutting welfare benefits such as housing benefits and working tax credits, the UK Government is literally robbing a generation of young people of opportunity in life, by plunging them into relative or absolute poverty, and it honestly sickens me.

In my eyes, there is nothing more important than giving a future generation a better chance in life than was available to the last. Many more 17 and 18 year olds in our area go to university than 30 years ago, however cutting the income of our country’s poorest could disable class mobility through education, as more and more parents can't afford to send their children to university.

This information has allowed me to draw the conclusion that the UK Government doesn't agree with my view that opportunity is the most important thing to offer young people, as they seem to think poverty is a much better alternative'.