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THE Tories’ new welfare system is deeply flawed and a “significant threat” to the poorest, says a damning report.

An expert found major problems with the universal credit scheme and warned that the Scottish Government cannot fully protect its victims.

The report for the progressive Scotland Institute think-tank says universal credit is driven by right-wing ideology and riddled with problems.

It brings together six strands of welfare, including jobseeker’s allowance and tax credits.

The shake-up has been dogged by delays but is now affecting all single jobseekers in Scotland. It will also soon cover all working families on housing benefit.

The institute fear families who get in-work benefits could lose up to £3000 a year because of it.

Holyrood is set to be handed greater power over welfare, further complicating the process.

And the report’s author, economist Dr Roger Cook, makes a series of recommendations to the SNP on how to protect the poorest.

He says they should make sure payments go to individuals, rather than households as the Tories want, to protect victims of domestic abuse.

Cook wants a clear agreement with Tory Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green that he won’t use new Scottish benefits as an excuse to slash universal credit payments.

And he says the SNP should oppose benefit caps and demand more control of the hated sanctions regime which punishes the poor.

Cook said his ideas would give Holyrood “greater oversight”, but universal credit would remain “a significant threat to the poorest”.

The SNP said the Tories’ attitude to welfare was “muddled, regressive and indifferent”, and Scottish leader Ruth Davidson would be “just as culpable as the Westminster axemen” if she failed to oppose them.

The DWP said universal credit was simplifying the system and helping people into work faster.