Brown warns that child poverty could ‘explode out of control’

Child poverty in Scotland “will explode out of control” unless urgent and drastic action is taken, Gordon Brown has warned.

Half of all Scottish children are set to grow up in poverty-stricken homes if measures to tackle the “epidemic of poverty” are not taken, the former prime minister has said.

Addressing the annual conference of Scotland’s councils, Mr Brown said there is “not a hope” of meeting child poverty targets if the Scottish Government fails to use its powers to go further in tackling the problem.

“Child poverty is demeaning, it is demoralising, it is damaging to the lives of children,” Mr Brown said, referencing government figures to suggest the number of Scottish children in poverty will rise by 130,000 by 2028 – more than at any time during the Thatcher or Major governments.

Mr Brown told the Cosla conference: “Over these next 10 years, if we do nothing about it or do too little, then these poverty numbers will explode out of control.”

Although he praised the Scottish Parliament for setting “ambitious” targets to cut child poverty, Mr Brown warned “there is no visible means of reaching these targets”.

Mr Brown continued: “This is a nationwide epidemic of poverty that if we do nothing about, we are all to blame.

“It is not a question of one party or another, of one government or another, it’s a question of whether we do something that can make the lives of these children better in the years to come and relieve the pressure on all the local authority services that will have to step in if nothing is done.”

Asked about Mr Brown’s comments, Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell said: “What we’re having to do as a government is mitigate, as best we can, the impact of what the UK Government is doing.

“We are continuing to mitigate, but we also want to pursue some of the positive policies that we can with the powers we have.”

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Child poverty is demeaning, it is damaging to the lives of children. GORDON BROWN

Picture: Kenny Smith. The Cross Tay Link may be affected by changes in council borrowing rates.

Gordon Brown is worried about levels of child poverty.