THE UK Government has been urged to “take a leaf out the Scottish Government’s book” to bring down child poverty.
SNP MP Seamus Logan demanded that Labour look north of the Border for inspiration in battling inequality – after a major report predicted that Scotland was the only part of the UK where poverty was falling.
The UK Government is considering sweeping changes to the welfare system as ministers hope to get more people off benefits.
Logan referenced a report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, which last week projected that Scotland would be the only part of the UK to see child poverty fall over the next four years.
Child poverty was predicted to rise in all other parts of the UK, with the existing gap between rates in Scotland and England set to grow.
It also found that if the UK were to achieve the same results as Scotland, there would be 800,000 fewer children in poverty.
Speaking in the Commons on Monday, Logan said: “The minister will have heard several references to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report this afternoon.
“That report demonstrated that not only is extreme poverty rising but also the only part of these islands where child poverty will fall in the next four years is in Scotland. Is it not time that the Westminster government took a leaf out of the Scottish Government’s book?”
Department for Work and Pensions minister Alison McGovern replied: “I think it’s fair to say that we’ve spent a great deal of time talking to people from all parts of the UK and will continue to do so because only a strategy that covers all of the UK will be a success.”
