Poverty campaigners in call to sieze Budget ‘golden opportunity’
CHILD poverty campaigners and politicians in Glasgow have urged UK ministers to seize a “golden opportunity” to ease the financial burden on struggling families in Monday’s budget.
It comes after we told how a eight-year-old Glasgow boy was forced to eat tomato sauce sachets because he didn’t have enough to eat.
A community group, which runs a foodbank on the South Side of the city, told how the child was referred by a concerned teacher who caught him stealing from the school canteen.
The little boy is said to have sent a note to Crookston Community Group, saying: “Thank you for giving my mum food so we can eat.”
Crookston Community Group shared the story as foodbanks warned politicians at Holyrood on Thursday that the rise in demand for their services was reaching,“crisis point”.
Volunteer workers said the incident was at the “lower end of the scale.”
Humza Yousaf, whose Pollok constituency covers Crookston, said it was, “an awful story to read about.”
John Dickie, Director of Child Poverty Action Group Scotland, said: “That any child, any family, has to rely on food banks in 21st century Scotland is an absolute disgrace.
“Mondays UK budget provides a golden opportunity for the Chancellor to make good on promises to support families and end austerity by restoring the value of universal credit, ending the freeze on family benefits and scrapping the cruel and disastrous two child limit.”
Government minister Humza Yousaf, who is MSP for Pollok, said: “This awful story shows the real-life impact austerity is having on the poorest and most vulnerable.
“You have to ask yourself what further evidence the UK Government needs to halt their damaging austerity agenda, which we know has pushed hundreds of thousands of children into poverty over the last decade.
“This story is a testament to the many grassroots community groups, from Crookston Community Group to South West Foodbank, who provide a safety net for those in poverty.
“The Scottish Government is determined to eradicate child poverty. To do so we have passed a new Child Poverty Act, published a new action plan and introduced a £50 million fund to step up our efforts to end child poverty. Ultimately, we need the UK Government to stop its damaging austerity platform.”