By Bill Heaney
Nearly one million people in the United Kingdom are “only £10 a week away from poverty”.
Collette Stevenson (SNP) told the Scottish Parliament on Thursday that a recent analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation showed that 86 per cent of low-income households receiving universal credit were going without the essentials
“Our action is making a difference, with modelling estimating that our policies will keep 100,000 children out of relative poverty this year.
“Of course, we could go so much further, if Westminster matched Scotland’s ambition, with policies towards eradicating child poverty such as introducing an essentials guarantee and abolishing the two-child limit.”
Collette Stevenson replied: “With austerity, Brexit and the cost of living crisis, those figures are a shocking indictment of 14 years of Tory rule.
“The Resolution Foundation warns that the Tory’s manifesto plans would slash welfare by another £12 billion.
“Will the cabinet secretary outline what she will discuss with her UK Government counterpart after the election, given that the key powers are reserved to Westminster?
“Does she agree that it would be better if the Scottish Government could invest more in its own anti-poverty policies, rather than having to mitigate the cuts from cruel Westminster policies such as the bedroom tax?”
Shirley-Anne Somerville, pictured right, told MSPs: “Collette Stevenson is right to point out that there is money that the Scottish Government has to invest in our people because we have to mitigate the effect of welfare cuts. “Currently, we invest £134 million to mitigate the effects of the bedroom tax and the benefit cap.
“It certainly appears that, regardless of who wins the next UK election and who is in number 10, those mitigations will have to remain in place, because no changes will be made.
“We would like to go further on the issue, but it is difficult to see how we can do that when, despite the promises that have been made, no new funding for anti-poverty measures is coming from either party.”