26 October 2015 — 38 Degrees

In just a few hours, the House of Lords could kill off George Osborne’s cuts to tax credits. [1] If he isn’t stopped, the Chancellor’s plans will make life harder for millions of British families with low-paid jobs. [2]

Some Lords have already said they’re worried about the cuts – so the government is trying to bully them into quietly voting them through. [3] That means it’s up to us to prove to the Lords that the public’s behind them.

Lots of Lords will have Twitter on their mobile phones, so we can get our messages straight through to them today. Please can you tweet at a Lord this morning to ask them to vote against these unfair, unjust and unpopular cuts? There’s some suggested text in there already:

More than 100,000 38 Degrees members have already signed a petition opposing these awful cuts. Today, Baroness Meacher – who’s submitted a proposal to block the cuts – will carry our petition into the chamber.

Osborne’s cruel plans will push 200,000 children into poverty. They will cost more than 3 million families an average of £1,300. [4] And they will hit some 38 Degrees members very hard, as we are seeing from comments on our Facebook page. [5]

Lords don’t often hear from the public. So when they do, it grabs their attention. Let’s make sure they know we’re watching the vote today. Please can you tweet at a Lord now to ask them to vote against cuts to tax credits this afternoon? Click here to send your tweet:

Together, if we all speak out, we can make sure the Lords know that the public don’t want these cuts – and make sure they vote them out.

Thank you,

Amy, Nat, Stewart and the 38 Degrees team

PS: The Lords will be voting on tax credits this afternoon, so please can you tweet as soon as possible:

NOTES
[1] The House of Lords will be voting on a ‘statutory instrument’ to cut tax credits. This is a way for the government to change the law without a whole new law going through Parliament. Parliamentary business for Monday 26 October 2015:
http://services.parliament.uk/calendar/2015/10/26/events.html#!/calendar/Lords/MainChamber/2015/10/26/events.html
[2] The Independent: Tory tax credit cuts will put 200,000 children into poverty in 2016, study finds:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-tories-tax-credit-cuts-will-put-200000-children-into-poverty-next-year-study-finds-a6685661.html
[3] The Mirror: David Cameron accused of ‘bullying’ Lords over threat to block tax credit cuts:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/david-cameron-accused-bullying-lords-6688436
[4] Daily Record: More than 3 million families will be hit by tax credit cuts:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/more-3-million-families-hit-6682385
[5] 38 Degrees Facebook post on tax credits:
https://facebook.com/peoplepowerchange/photos/a.457255765787.382103.200006375787/10156180934245788/?type=3&theater