General Election 2015: Women would suffer £7.8bn of £8.6bn cuts to tax credits and child benefit under Tories, Labour says

Labour used figures showing that £22bn of the £28bn changes to taxes and benefits since 2010 have hit women

Yvette Cooper says David Cameron has ‘ducked the question’ of tax credits (Getty Images)

Women would suffer £7.8bn of £8.6bn of cuts to tax credits and child benefit the Conservatives would implement if they retain power, Labour have claimed.

Although David Cameron has insisted that he rejected plans drawn up in 2012 to cut the two payments, the Tories have identified only £2bn of the £12bn of welfare savings they would make after the election. The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that cuts to tax credits and child benefit would be likely. One option would be to mask lower tax credits during the introduction of universal credit, which is merging six benefits.

Labour projected the possible impact using figures compiled by the House of Commons Library, which showed that £22bn of the £28bn changes to taxes and benefits since 2010 have hit women – because they receive 80 per cent of tax credits and 90 per cent of child benefit.

According to Labour, £3bn of a £3.8bn raid on tax credits would come from women if the payments met the same proportion of the cuts as in the 2010-15 parliament, while women would find £4.3bn of the £4.8bn child benefit cuts. So 85 per cent of the next round of savings would hit women’s pockets.

Labour claims that families with one child would lose tax credits when their annual incomes hit £23,000, leaving them £1,600 a year worse off. Families with two children would lose tax credits when their incomes hit £29,000, leaving them £2,000 a year worse off.

Yvette Cooper, the shadow Home Secretary, told The Independent: “Once again the Tories want to make women bear the brunt of their extreme cuts plan. Their plans to cut child benefit and child tax credit will hit mums hardest - making it even tougher for women working hard to manage the family budget or juggle work and family life.”

Pledging that Labour would protect tax credits and child benefit, she added: "David Cameron's weasel words won't hide the fact that he has no other way to make his £12bn welfare cuts - and it is noticeable that he has ducked the question of tax credits altogether.”

Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, insisted people had “no need to fear” reductions in tax credits or child benefit. He told the BBC’s Daily Politics programme: “There is not going to be any further…other than we have announced, which is a freeze in child benefits for two years....there will be no further cuts for the rest of the parliament. And tax credits, we have said will be frozen for the first two years.”

He insisted the Tories had not revealed their £12bn of welfare savings because they had not yet “done the work on it.”

A Tory spokesman said: “This is desperate scaremongering from Labour. The real choice at this election is between the Conservatives, who will make sure Britain is living within means and cut people’s taxes or Ed Miliband, propped up by the SNP, who will spend, tax and borrow more – hitting people’s incomes.”