Major drive against poverty launched in capital

Everyone in Edinburgh must play their part in eliminating hardship in the city, according to its council’s deputy leader, who is fronting a poverty commission to tackle the increasing gap between rich and poor there.

Cammy Day, the council’s poverty champion, is calling on businesses, charities, public bodies and citizens to come together to make Edinburgh a fairer place to live.

The Edinburgh Poverty Commission will look at a range of priorities, including reducing reliance on food banks, easier access to childcare and to people’s own money, and ultimately build an attempt to lift people out of poverty.

More than 9,000 three-day emergency food supplies were handed out by a city food bank last year – an increase of 18.5 per cent in 12 months.

Around 22 per cent of children in Edinburgh are living in poverty and in some areas it is as high as 35 per cent, while men are paid on average 13 per cent more than women. The estimated cost to the public sector of addressing the impact of poverty in Edinburgh is around £408 million each year.

Mr Day said: “Poverty and inequality in the city is still here. There’s still around a quarter of children in the city living in poverty – that needs to change.”