im so anxious about threats to cut ctc...

"we should not and can not put controls on that."

That's different from saying we shouldn't support children. Families that are self-sufficient regulate how many children they have based, in part, on how many they can afford. Families who rely on external support should be encouraged to exercise similar restraint in the number they produce. Contraception is free and freely available, after all. The CB is already less for Child #2 than it is for Child #1 and there is a popular argument to say it should not apply to Child #3.

Barmy Army, the whole point of Tax Credits was to reduce the amount of child poverty. It is not a child's fault that their parents are not well off enough to afford to feed, clothe and house them without help.

Unless you are intending to police who has children based on people's ability to afford them, then I'm afraid your argument is flawed. The simple fact is that people have children and we should not and can not put controls on that. We do, however, have a duty to ensure that those children have a decent standard of living and are not victims of their circumstances. That is why we have tax credits. It is an imperfect system, but it's all we have.

"they only as my annual gross income and dh annual gross income"

Childcare is taken into account. This online CTC calculator would be a useful way of working out what you're entitled to.

it may be offset with a rise in the income tax threshold but we'll have to wait and see

They should abolish CTC altogether. The State has no place in subsidising children. If people can't afford to raise their children without recourse to pther people's money, they shouldn't have them, in my opinion.

If you have several children you could still get hundreds a month at 30,000 and higher. I read that they want to cut it from 24K. Surely it is wrong when people are relying on it for childcare etc to just cut it. Gradual withdrawel would be better. It's scary that some people have used tax credits for mortgages etc..

the lower earners will be the ones to pay, if you're still lucky to have a job this time next year.

CTC is currently calcuated on net income ie. after childcare costs to be taken into account. If your net income is over £30k then you arguably don't need the £40-ish a month you currently get from CTC. If your net income is under £30k then you probably won't see much of a difference to what you currently get.

There is a flip-side, of course. The Tories were quite keen on reintroducing married couples' tax allowances and the Lib Dems wanted to raise the threshold for paying any tax at all to £10,000. If you qualify for either of those you could claw back some of the £40/month lost.

I know what you mean. It all feels so bleak at the moment.