Scottish Government action urged to tackle blight of child poverty

The Scottish Government must divert more resources into childcare, the MP representing the country’s worst-hit poverty blackspot has insisted.

Figures released last week by The Campaign to End Child Poverty revealed a third of children live in poverty in more than three dozen (37) council wards across Scotland.

Springburn in north Glasgow was named the hardest hit area with 52 per cent of children living below the breadline.

And Willie Bain, Labour MP for Glasgow North East – which incorporates Springburn – has urged Holyrood to do more to help tackle the problem.

He said: “For me this is something that the Scottish Parliament could deal with right now with the powers that it has.

“It could look at moving investment in some areas into childcare, something which I am encouraging colleagues at Westminster to look at as well.”

A study carried out last month by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), which charted the rise in household incomes in the last four decades, found the biggest driver in the increase of living standards was greater female participation in the jobs market.

“They have established that investing in a more universal childcare system – which helps women trying to get back into work – does a lot to cut poverty rates. Countries that have done this have seen the biggest fall in inequality over the last 50 years,” added Bain.

Talk of the upcoming independence referendum has dominated recent headlines and as battle lines are drawn the way that all parties propose to tackle poverty and social deprivation will prove key.

Jamie Hepburn, SNP MSP for Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, believes an
independent Scotland would be in a better position for improving living standards than the “halfway house of devolution”, citing the example of Scandinavia.

He said: “If you look at some of our nearest neighbours, who are fairly comparable to Scotland in terms of geography and population size, they’re far more socially cohesive.”

But Bain warned: “It is a scourge on society and it needs these different approaches to deal with it.

“There are some things Holyrood could do right now with childcare and others things that need a mix of policy from Holyrood and Westminster.”