The Labour leadership candidate Diane Abbott attacks the government for expecting women to pay more than men under tax and cuts plans

Diane Abbott, the Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington and a Labour leadership candidate, has argued women will shoulder a greater burden of the spending cuts and taxes proposed by the coalition government.

During an end-of-day debate on September 6, the MP put forward evidence that of the �8bn to be raised from cuts and taxes, �5.8bn would come from women.

She also said the Budget was based on an out-dated family model in which men are the sole ‘breadwinners’.

She said: “George Osborne, our chancellor, has cut and frozen too many programmes which were aimed largely at women.

“His decisions to freeze child benefit, scrap the child trust fund, stop Sure Start maternity grants, abolish the health in pregnancy grant, cap housing benefit and freeze public pay will all have a greater impact on women than men.”

The equalities minister, Lynne Featherstone, said the government’s tax and spending plans were fair.