SNP MSP FOR EDINBURGH PENTLANDS GORDON MACDONALD DEMANDS DEVOLUTION OF SOCIAL SECURITY POWERS
Freedom of Information figures supplied by the Department for Work and Pensions have shown that Edinburgh has lost out on £4.1M because of Tory cuts to disability benefit, says Gordon Macdonald.
The information – requested by investigative news organisation The Ferret – shows the number of people who have lost out on social security benefits following the change from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payments.
The Tory welfare cuts – taking a total of £56 million away from communities across Scotland – have hit the poorest people hardest, leaving vulnerable and disabled people across Edinburgh without enough money to live on.
Gordon said : “It is absolutely devastating that Tory welfare cuts have taken £4.1 million out of our communities, in Edinburgh.
“This really hits home at how disastrous these cuts have been for people across Edinburgh – robbing our society and vulnerable people of the money they were entitled to until the Tories decided that they no longer were.
“It is shameful that those most in need of support in Scotland have lost over £56 million under this cruel Tory regime.
“While the Scottish Government is busy setting up a new social security agency with dignity and respect at its heart, figures such as these continue to emerge showing just how damaging Tory welfare cuts are for Edinburgh.
“Only with full powers over social security can Scotland treat all those in need of support with the respect they deserve, not the cruelty they face under a toxic Tory government.”
