AROUND 20 Torridge and West Devon residents, including 38 Degrees activists and Labour Party members, on Saturday lobbied MP Geoffrey Cox over Government proposals to cut working tax credits.

Crystal Steinberg, manager of the constituency Labour Party campaign, ‘Stop The Tax Credit Cuts’, presented Conservative Mr Cox at his Bideford office with a petition of almost 1,000 signatures that had been collected by the groups.

She said: “It has been amazing that we have collected over 400 signatures to the Labour petition calling for a halt to the cuts since the campaign started last Saturday.

“38 Degrees have gathered 553 signatures online, but it is only by standing and actually speaking to people that you see the full depth of the concerns people have about the devastating impact of these changes.”

She said Government statistics showed that 8,300 children would be adversely affected if the Government implemented the tax credits cut. “The figures also reveal that 5,800 working households will lose out, penalising them for going out and taking the work that is available in our low paid area, as retail staff, care assistants, small business owners, teaching assistants and other jobs in our community.”

Stephenie Brown said she stands to lose out despite working part-time in addition to her full time job: “I already barely scrape by, looking after my two children by myself, working two jobs, and for the Government to make it harder for me to feed my children in a country as wealthy as this, is an insult”.

Mr Cox later told the Post: “I met a number of representatives of the Labour party on Saturday who presented me with a petition against the reduction of tax credits as proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the recent budget. I informed them that while I supported the Chancellor’s objective I was concerned about the removal of tax credits prior to the introduction of the living wage and had sought to persuade the Chancellor that mitigating measures were necessary to alleviate the burden on the low paid in Torridge and West Devon.

“I, and other Conservative MPs, have received assurances that such measures will be taken and the Government has listened to the concerns we have expressed.

“It is, however, important to recognise that a central part of the manifesto of the last election was the elimination of the deficit, without which we cannot achieve a prosperous economy. Therefore, finding savings on all areas of public expenditure is a vital necessity and this includes welfare expenditure. I shall continue to monitor the situation and make representations to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.”