OUR Tax Credit system supports families on low pay, and helps many to make ends meet. For thousands of families in Clackmannanshire they are a vital lifeline which bridges the gap between low wages and the cost of living today. Simply, tax credits help make work pay.

That’s why I joined with other SNP MPs at Westminster last week to call on the Tory party to reverse their plans for swingeing cuts to tax credits, which will leave 200,000 Scottish families £1,300 worse off a year. That’s a huge shortfall to leave families with, especially those who are already on low incomes.

The UK Government must think again about the £4.3 billion of cuts to tax credits, announced by George Osborne in the Summer Budget, and which are due to come into effect in April 2016.

It’s safe to say that the Tories have shown their true colours with these regressive plans. Rather than acting like a Government which supports working people, this is a Government that punishes working people.

Across Scotland, over half a million children live in families that rely on tax credits to pay their bills and put food on the table. 350,000 of those children will be worse off thanks to these plans.

This is not a war on poverty, but a campaign against the working poor.

I welcome the belated support from the Labour Party on this measure, who eventually joined with the SNP this week to oppose these cuts. The fact remains, however, that if Labour had joined with the SNP in a progressive alliance after the Budget in July, we could have made a tougher stand against this pernicious austerity regime and done more to stop these ideologically driven cuts.

This disastrous measure demonstrates one of the key arguments to give the Scottish Parliament full control over our social security policy. While the Tories want to give Scotland the ability to tinker around the edges of the issue, only full control over our benefits and tax credits system will give future Scottish Governments the ability to protect our social safety net. The limited powers on offer are simply not enough to plug the black-hole created by these tax credits cuts.

My message to the UK Government is clear: Scotland must have the power to pull children and families out of poverty. My promise to all of my constituents is that I’ll continue to do all I can to mitigate the harm done by this uncaring Tory government.

I’ll be holding a constituency surgery at 2.30pm this Friday in Alloa Business Centre. If you’d like an appointment, please email me at tas.mp@parliament.uk