BLAME GAME

Politicians are playing the blame game over poverty issues affecting North Lanarkshire.

The SNP and Conservatives hit out at each other as new figures show around 4000 kids in and around Motherwe are living in poverty.

Motherwell & Wishaw SNP MP Marion Fellows said: “These heart-breaking figures show the cost to our young people living in the UK under a Tory Government which cares about making the rich richer and the poor poorer. Decades from now, our children and young people will look back on this period under Cameron and May in the same way older people look at Thatcher.

“The Tories’ welfare and economic policies are attacks on our communities. Austerity, Universal Credit, the two-child tax credit cap, a meagre minimum wage, zero-hours contracts, and swingeing cuts to unemployment and disability benefits are hitting incomes and locking children into poverty. SNP MPS oppose these policies every day at Westminster.

“The Scottish Government is taking action with the limited powers it has to lift children and their families out of poverty. But while powers over workplace and welfare lie in the hands of Tories in Westminster, people in Scotland will be forced to live by their damaging policies.”

Mrs Fellows’ Holyrood counterpart, Clare Adamson, added: “The Scottish Government has stated that we want Scotland to be the best place in the world to grow up. This means tacking poverty is a key concern.”

Tory list MSP Graham Simpson said: “The statistics that have been released are of great concern.

“We need to be doing everything we can to give our children the best possible start in life.

“The causes of poverty are varied and include education, the economy and the cost of things like housing, council tax rates, childcare and transport.

“The SNP needs to tackle the ‘drivers of poverty’, such as addiction, family breakdown, unemployment and educational underattainment.

“Policy levers, both reserved and devolved, have roles to play in addressing poverty more widely.

“We want to hold the SNP to account over their child poverty targets and to encourage them to use the powers that have been devolved to Scotland to tackle these drivers of poverty.”