In Parliament

Bob Doris (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP)

The UK Government’s austerity agenda is putting significant budgetary pressure on Scotland as we try to protect the most vulnerable here, who are increasingly being targeted by the Labour Party. Given the devolved impact, will the First Minister urge Keir Starmer to act on a new study, published by the London School of Economics, that says that, if the UK Government were to follow Scotland’s policies, 700,000 children would be lifted out of poverty? How could Scotland reinvest that money to benefit my Maryhill and Springburn constituents, and those beyond, if it did not have to pick up the failures of the UK Government?

The First Minister (John Swinney)

Mr Doris raises an issue that matters enormously to me. He knows, as the Parliament does, that the focal point of my Government’s agenda is the eradication of child poverty. In the London School of Economics study that he cited, Professor Ruth Patrick said:

“The progress Scotland has made on driving poverty rates down shows another way is possible.”

We certainly need another way when the United Kingdom Government has voluntarily set out welfare reforms that, based on analysis by a Labour Government, will push 50,000 children into poverty. What on earth is the point of a Labour Government that is forcing more and more children into poverty? We are taking better decisions in Scotland, where child poverty rates are falling, whereas they are rising in every other part of the United Kingdom. That demonstrates that the Labour Government in Westminster is not delivering for the people of Scotland