The Labour party is to vote against the government plan to limit working age benefits to a 1% rise, as outlined in the Autumn Statement by the Chancellor George Osborne.
Speaking at Treasury Questions, shadow chancellor Ed Balls said: "In the Autumn Statement the Chancellor announced a real-term cut in tax credits and benefits over the next three years, and the government says it will ask the House to vote on this.
"So could the Chancellor tell the house the answer to two questions? First, what percentage of families hit by these cuts to tax credits and benefits are in work?
"As a result of the Autumn Statement tax and benefit changes, including the change to the personal allowance will the average one earner couple in work with children be better off or worse off?"
Balls went on to claim 60% of families hit by the tax and benefit changes are in work. And that, according to the Institute of fiscal Studies, a working family - the average one earner couple - will be £534 a year worse off by 2015.
"These are the very families who pull up the blinds and go to work, and on average every Tory constituency has over 6,000 of these families who will lose out," he said.
He concluded: "We will look at the legislation but if he intends to go ahead with such an unfair hit on middle and lower income working families while he is giving a £3bn top rate tax cut we will oppose it."
