SCOTLAND is leading the way in reducing child poverty in the UK, a new report has found.
Westminster has been urged to learn from Holyrood after a study by the Big Issue found that Scotland has seen a 12% drop in child poverty since introducing reduction targets into law in 2017 – equivalent to a reduction of 21,000 living in relative poverty.
Yet in the same period, England and Wales have seen a 15% rise.
The magazine said its study highlighted why Westminster should implement similar poverty reduction targets as Scotland.
Its analysis of UK child poverty statistics found that the assent of the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 was a “parting of the ways” for the different home nations’ trajectories on child poverty.
The report said a cyclical target-setting method would translate Labour’s stated ambition of “enduring poverty reduction” into concrete, measurable steps.
Lord John Bird, Big Issue founder and crossbench peer, said: “With child poverty in England and Wales predicted to rise to new pernicious highs, we cannot accept rhetoric in place of real change – we must demand sustained, legislative action.
“Parliamentarians possess the authority to drive this transformation. Let us not look back and regret another missed opportunity. The time has come to stop simply managing poverty and to begin ending it.”
The Scottish Government has previously said it is on a "national mission" to end child poverty.
On Monday, First Minister John Swinney announced more families would be able to benefit from free school meals for children after the summer holidays.
The Scottish Government is investing £3 million in a trial phase which will extend the provision of free school meals to S1 to S3 pupils who receive the Scottish child payment.
And earlier this month, Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville announced the Scottish Government would be ditching the two-child benefit cap on March 2.
The two-child limit denies child allowances in Universal Credit and tax credits to third or subsequent children born after April 2017 and has been kept in place by Keir Starmer's Labour UK Government.
