WORCESTER'S MP has defended a move to slash tax credits - saying he finds it a better option than cutting NHS or school funding.

Robin Walker has responded to the fierce criticism directed towards Chancellor George Osborne by insisting he believes most people back lower welfare spending.

As your Worcester News revealed on Tuesday, up to 22,000 Worcestershire families with children who get tax credits could be clobbered by the cuts in April.

The Government wants to reduce the benefits, which includes child tax credit, by £4.4 billion despite fears even from some Tory MPs that the reductions go too far.

But Mr Walker has hit out at criticism, some of which has been directed his way on social media, by calling it "tripe" that the Government wasn't clear about it before the elections.

He has also called for people to see the "moral case" behind the cuts, saying the onus should be on employers upping wages instead of relying on taxpayers to help the lowest-paid get by.

"Nobody wants to see living standards affected unnecessarily but we've been very clear about wanting to tackle this subsidy for low pay," he said.

"We need to make the moral case for why it's wrong that working people should be asked to subsidise the wages of others rather than have people paid a proper wage in the first place.

"Many of the groups making the case against tax credit reform are looking at the issue straightforwardly as an income equation of what happens in this single year.

"We need to move the argument on to a much broader one about the moral and financial efficacy of the state 'topping up' people’s wages.

"It is a waste of resource to have people pay money into the system, run it through the Government machine and then receive it some of it back in handouts but more importantly, it undermines the essential value of their own work and their independence."

He added: "The alternative to finding these savings in welfare spending would be to increase borrowing, raise taxes or cut valuable public services like the NHS and schools.

"None of these options would be right."

The controversial changes include cutting in half the amount people can earn before working tax credits reduce from £6,420 to £3,850 in April, and ending the £545 flat 'family element' paid to all child tax credit claimants in 2017, taking the system back to its 2008 spending levels.

Mr Osborne says a combination of lowering tax thresholds and the National Living Wage, which will see all over-25s get at least £9 an hour by 2020, will offset the cuts for most people.

It includes a tax free personal allowance of £12,500 by then, meaning a typical taxpayer will hand over £1,205 less to the state than in 2010.

Across the county 22,300 families with 41,500 children get the benefits, according to House of Commons research.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has accused the Government of being "poverty deniers" but a bid to force a rethink was rejected in the Commons this week.

Councillor Adrian Gregson, who leads Worcester's Labour group, has accused the Conservatives of being "completely out of touch" with most working people.

* See our report from this earlier in the week HERE.