Labour set out plan to fix welfare safety net

SCOTTISH Labour has said it would “repair and renew” the welfare safety net if it was in power at Holyrood, with a guaranteed minimum income for all.

Leader Anas Sarwar said he also wanted to reverse the “cruellest” Tory benefit reforms, including the two-child limit on certain funds.

Publishing a social security recovery plan while electioneering in Glasgow, Mr Sarwar said he wanted to address child poverty with a “minimum income guarantee”, with benefits topping up low wages to ensure everyone had a decent living standard.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation found a single person had to earn £19,200 in 2020 to reach that, and a couple with two kids £18,700 each.

The New Economics Foundation calculated a minimum income standard could cost £80 billion a year across the UK, implying a bill of £7bn for Scotland per year, twice Holyrood’s social security budget.

Scottish Labour’s plan came with no cost details – it said it wanted to “work towards” a minimum income standard, with a commission to “work out the precise value in the wake of the pandemic”.

Scottish Labour also want to double the Scottish child benefit top-up to £20 a week, plus £5 for disabled children.

Mr Sarwar said: “If we focus on making a Covid recovery parliament we can immediately lift as many as 60,000 children out of poverty.

“We can transform the lives of those Scots who risk falling deeper into poverty by offering the stability of a guaranteed minimum income”

Pam Duncan-glancy, Scottish Labour’s spokesperson on social security and Glasgow Kelvin candidate, said: “We need a Parliament focused on a recovery that creates good jobs and builds a social security system that make sure everyone has enough money to live on.”