Poverty gap

According to the Child Poverty Action Group, child poverty is stable in Scotland but rising in the rest of the UK and that it expected to see child poverty rates in Scotland falling as the latest data does not “yet include the full impact of the roll out of the Scottish Child Payment and its increase to £25 per week in November 2022”.

Under successive Westminster governments, child poverty in the UK is much worse than in Denmark, Finland, Ireland or Norway and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report in late January highlighted that “Child poverty rates in Scotland (24 per cent) remain much lower than those in England (31 per cent) and Wales (28 per cent)”.

At the same time as the Scottish Child Payment was doubled the Tory government cut Universal Credit by the same amount while, in keeping with their new-found Thatcherite policies, Labour say that they will maintain the two-child benefit cap.

Before the SNP came to power, the ten poorest areas in the UK were in Scotland. Now, the 20 poorest areas in the UK are all in England. Also, under the SNP, Scotland has continued the trend of outperforming the rest of the UK in delivering affordable housing by building 13.9 homes per 10,000 population last year, compared with only eight in Wales and 9.7 in England.

Fuel poverty is not helped by the fact that, despite Scotland having vast surplus energy resources, our consumers continue to pay the highest daily energy standing charges in the UK while our renewable industries pay the highest grid connection charges in Europe, all thanks to Westminster’s failed energy polices. Mary Thomas

Edinburgh