Coatbridge MSP Fulton MacGregor has slammed the Tory leadership candidates for their "silence" on child poverty as a new report highlights the scale of the cost of living with Westminster.
Fresh findings from Citizens Advice Scotland on Universal Credit underlines the struggles households across Scotland are facing - revealing that the need for foodbanks has grown by almost a third (31 per cent) since September last year.
The report calls for Westminster to immediately uprate Universal Credit and all legacy benefits, a suspension of sanctions, scrapping the benefit cap and the two-child limit, pausing the collection of all DWP and HMRC debts, and converting all Advance Payments at the beginning of Universal Credit claims into non-repayable assessment period grants.
Mr MacGregor has said "progress is being undermined by decades of Westminster austerity policies and a Tory leadership contest ignoring the cost of living crisis".
He told Lanarkshire Live : "It is utterly shameful to see such an increase in foodbank use in a place as wealthy as the UK.
"Yet, sadly, it’s not surprising that families in Coatbridge and Chryston are struggling to get by as prices continue to rise but Westminster fails to take any meaningful action to help and every single Tory leadership candidate is silent on the matter of child poverty and the cost of living crisis.
“Research shows the actions of the SNP Scottish Government are making a real difference to those in Coatbridge and Chryston struggling as it doing all it can with the powers at its disposal to support households through these tough times, but these efforts are constantly fighting against cruel Westminster policies.
“The Tories silence on poverty has been deafening and it’s clear that the last thing people in Coatbridge and Chryston needs is a different Prime Minister.
"We need a different future with independence and the full welfare powers it gives Scotland to build a fairer, wealthier and happier country.”
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