DURING the recent general election campaign, the Tories didn’t tell us who would be worst hit by their plans to increase austerity.

And so it is with real concern that we will listen to Chancellor George Osborne when he stands up in the House of Commons tomorrow to spill the beans on the latest round of Tory welfare cuts.

While we don’t yet know the details we can be certain that his announcement will hammer some of the poorest people in our society, particularly women, who are too often in low paid work.

After all, he is setting out how he plans to rip £12 billion pounds from the household incomes of those who are too ill to work as well as some of the least well off working families with children who are even now struggling to make ends meet. The estimates are that 80,000 children in Glasgow will be hit, as highlighted by Labour MSP Drew Smith just yesterday.

At a time when the majority of people living in poverty are also in work, the Chancellor and his Tories colleagues are primed to attack one of the only ways of supporting those on low wage jobs.

One of the strongest indications we’ve had so far is that tax credits – introduced by the last Labour government to help the lowest paid - will be targeted, in a ruthless move to slash public spending and extend Tory austerity.

And the Chancellor has form on this. The last time that he cut tax credits it took an estimated £350m from working families in Scotland. Not only does this hit the poorest who rely on these payments, it also takes money out of the local economy.

There is clear evidence that when people receive tax credits they don’t stash this money away in their tax-free offshore bank accounts, they spend it locally in shops and businesses.

So when tax credits are cut this hurts not only the household that receives them but the wider local economy because people have less money in their pockets to spend.

I have written before about the scandal of in-work poverty and I will continue to highlight it for as long as it remains a scourge in our country. An honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work remains as valid now as it ever has been.

That is why my council continues to lead the way on promoting a living wage, with more than 300 businesses accredited as Glasgow Living Wage employers. Our scheme is the most successful in Scotland, with more members than even the Scottish Government’s programme.

Our support for advice services helps protect the most vulnerable against the harshest of Tory cuts, by offering advice to Glaswegians on what benefits they are entitled to. For every £1 the council invests in these services, some £15 is put into the pockets of Glaswegians. In the last two and half years they have helped many thousands of Glaswegians and we have committed £3.5million to fund financial advice services until 2020.

However, there is only so much that can be done whilst we remain at the mercy of central government.

The last round of welfare cuts hit Scotland badly. Recent evidence shows that the overall financial loss in Scotland amounts to £440 for a working age adult, and in Glasgow we were the worst affected with the loss rising to £580.

The Chancellor’s announcement tomorrow also lays down a challenge to Glasgow’s new MPs. How will they respond and stand up for the interests of their constituents and the city? Will they provide a strong voice that offers practical ways of helping those most in need?

Across our city, there is real anxiety about what this government has in store. We need an organised, sustained, determined opposition to Tory cuts; not one which will simply criticise the Tories, but which is able to offer viable and forward-thinking plans to create jobs and opportunities and tackle poverty. I want to work with all politicians who are willing to support genuine actions that will protect those who will be hurt by the Chancellor’s announcement tomorrow.