Warning as family ‘no cash to buy presents’

AN SNP politician has hit out at the “appalling” situation that means a family in her constituency has no money to buy their children presents this Christmas.

Glasgow Central MP Alison Thewliss raised the plight of the family as a stark warning about the working poor, as MPs debated how to tackle child poverty.

Labour and SNP MPs went on to say there was “an orgy of consumption” at Christmas, as they pledged to remember those who will struggle over the festive season.

Ms Thewliss told the debate in Westminster Hall that her constituents had been in touch for assistance “because they have no money for Christmas presents for their children”.

She added: “I can’t imagine the heartbreak that must cause for parents, to know that they just don’t have the money, that Santa won’t come to their door, that those kids are going to wake up on Christmas morning perhaps with nothing at all.

“The way that we have in our country just now stigmatised those families, even allowing us to reach that situation, is nothing short of appalling.

“The family I mentioned have no recourse to public funds.

“The mother is working, but she just can’t work enough to bring in enough money to pay the bills and to put food on the table, and to provide Christmas presents for their children.

“This is the reality of families in the UK today, in the sixth richest nation on earth.”

She cited the Resolution Foundation, which suggested as many as 100,000 more working households could fall below the poverty line by 2020.