Central Scotland MSP Richard Leonard says addressing child poverty as part of the post-COVID economic recovery must be a “top priority”.
That follows the release of figures showing an increase in the number of youngsters impacted.
Research published by the End Child Poverty coalition estimated that a quarter of children across Lanarkshire are living below the poverty line, in households where income is below the 60 per cent median following housing costs.
The figures are for 2019-2020, prior to the impact of coronvirus.
Mr Leonard said: “Data from during the pandemic is expected to show the picture has worsened.
"We know that many more people have become unemployed and fallen into poverty during the lockdowns.
“We should not tolerate as many as one in four children living in poverty – no child should be living in poverty.
“These figures show that far from coming down, the number of children blighted by poverty in this community is going up. This shows a failure of government and lack of leadership.
“Recovery must be the top priority for every politician and every political party.”
End Child Poverty’s figures, revealed following research by Loughborough University show that 16,604 children in North Lanarkshire, or 26.5 per cent of young people, live in poverty.
The figure is above the national average of 24 per cent, and shows an increase of 2.6 per cent on the area’s statistic from five years earlier.
In South Lanarkshire, the number of children living in poverty is 12,840, amounting to 23.1 per cent of youngsters – a 1.5 per cent increase on the 2014-2015 figure, with every council in Scotland having seen a rise since that time.
Labour politician Mr Leonard added: “I congratulate North Lanarkshire Council on their bold initiatives to support those living in poverty, including with their pioneering Club 365 programme.
“However, millions of pounds in cuts by the Scottish Government to local government has piled up the pressure on vital frontline services needed to support those most in need.”
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