CRIES of “shame” went up in Parliament yesterday as MPs heard the heart-rending stories of people set to be plunged further into poverty if George Osborne cuts tax credits today.

More than four million families depending on tax credits — 70 per cent of them in work — are braced for bad news when the Chancellor delivers his first all-Tory Budget.

Labour shadow Treasury secretary Shabana Mahmood said the move would wreck Tory claims to be the “workers’ party” and “prove whose side they are really on.”

Labour MPs lined up in the opposition-day debate to tell Tory ministers about the hardship their cuts will cause for each and every family affected.

Liverpool Wavertree MP Luciana Berger shared the story of mother Joanne Todd, who she said is “already struggling to exist, to feed herself and her children and clothe her children.”

She warned: “If these cuts go ahead she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to afford to put the heating on this winter.”

But Treasury Secretary David Gauke — Mr Osborne’s right-hand man — appeared unmoved, prompting shouts of “shame” to ring around the Commons chamber.

Blackburn MP Kate Hollern also spoke about a constituent who contacted her this week in a panic over the looming cuts to tax credits.

“A single mum, struggling to keep a roof over the head of her young son and teach him a strong work ethic,” she told MPs.

“If this cut in tax credits goes ahead she will no longer be able to afford her childcare which means she’s able to go to work in the first place. Totally counterproductive.”

Responding for the government, Mr Gauke admitted: “Tax credits have helped to support many of our most vulnerable families.”

But he refused to comment on the contents of Mr Osborne’s red box and then accused Labour of using tax credits as a “pre-election sweetener.”

West Ham MP Lyn Brown said the Tories simply “don’t understand the impact it will have.”

She stormed: “This is going to affect 22,000 children in my constituency alone.

“Twenty-two thousand children. Children who live in homes where their parents work but are on low wages through no fault of their own.”

Mr Osborne confirmed on Sunday that his Budget will slash child tax credit and working tax credit as part of a £12 billion cuts package.

Labour warned a £5bn cut to child tax credit would see the average family £1,400 worse off and 300,000 more children living in poverty.

The GMB union has calculated that big cuts to working tax credit could cost the average family working 24 hours or more every week £123.90 per week or £6,443 per year.

Ms Mahmood added: “These are huge sums of money for working people on low pay.

“People who are trying to do the right thing, and who are at the mercy of a labour market which at the lower end is insecure, and high housing costs which keep going up and up.

“Without tax credits to help them through, those who are working and stuck on low pay simply cannot make ends meet.”

The debate came after children’s charities warned this week that 7.5 million children live in families dependent on tax credits for food and clothing.