The Scottish Child Payment is Nicola Sturgeon’s best policy since she became First Minister in 2014.
The £10-a-week boost is a lifeline for low income families and aggressively targets poverty at its source.
Ministers initially rolled it out for under-6s and will extend it to under-16s by the end of next year.
It is also a welcome departure from the hateful Tory ideology of viewing social security as something for the undeserving.
But Scotland is in the middle of a poverty epidemic and families need more support as a matter of urgency.
Today, more than 100 groups and individuals have put their names to a letter demanding the doubling of the SCP next year.
The principle of increasing the payment to £20 a week is not disputed, as the SNP Government has committed to this by the end of the Parliament.
Timing is the issue and whether the First Minister will heed the call of campaigners and bring it forward to the next budget.
Our view is Holyrood has much more money than it used to and could find the resources for struggling families.
Well-off Scots could be asked to pay more and existing budgets combed through for funds to reallocate.
The alternative is Scotland’s shamefully high child poverty level will continue to soar.
Boris Johnson’s heartless decision to reverse the £20 increase in Universal Credit is a hammer blow, so boosting the SCP is essential.
If 120 organisations have backed this demand, the Daily Record will be the 121st.
Reform will save
Last year, deaths from alcohol reached their highest level in Scotland since 2008.
Figures out yesterday show 1190 Scots passed away in 2020 due to alcohol-specific deaths – a huge rise of 17 per cent on the previous year.
There can be little doubt this is a tragic side effect of two national lockdowns which exacerbated feelings of loneliness and despair for many.
But we can’t let coronavirus set back the progress that has been made in recent years on tackling problem drinking.
The highest concentration of alcohol-related deaths are linked to parts of the country suffering multiple deprivation.
The Scottish Government is already under pressure to increase access to addiction treatment services.
Ministers have hinted that drug and alcohol treatment could be linked to the new National Care Service in the future.
It’s the kind of radical reform that is required to stop the number of deaths from rising even further.
