Alex Salmond’s Alba Party is calling for a £40 a week Scottish Child Payment for low income families.
Alba will push for the increase as a step towards abolishing child poverty.
Salmond, who was an SNP First Minister for seven years, launched the new party following his bitter row with Nicola Sturgeon.
His aim is to create a “super majority” of pro-indy MSPs as a way of stepping up the pressure on the UK Government over independence.
A new Panelbase poll for the Scot goes Pop website predicted Alba would win 8 seats next month.
If Alba candidates become MSPs, they will push for a steep rise in the SCP, which is a £10 a week payment for poorer families.
Salmond said: “The Scottish Parliament under successive SNP Governments has made much progress for the people of Scotland. There are immediate interventions that can be made utilising the parliaments existing resources.
“Doubling the Scottish Child Payment is one of these, but we must go further and listen to organisations like the Joseph Rowntree Foundation when they tell us that doubling it doesn’t go far enough. Children will be trapped in poverty, that is simply unacceptable and we must be much bolder.
“Alba want to increase the Scottish Child Payment to £40 to radically reduce Child Poverty in Scotland and to aid the ultimate goal of its eradication. This uplift would be a "step change" in reducing poverty in Scotland.”
He added: “It is clear that political parties see reducing child poverty as a priority therefore the existing resources of the Scottish Parliament should be used to immediately double the Scottish Child Payment but we must go further and completely eradicate child poverty within the course of the new parliament. That will require the financial levers of recovery to be immediately devolved to the Scottish Parliament so that Scotland’s recovery is in Scotland’s hands.”
The SNP, Labour, Tories, Lib Dems and Greens are all committed to doubling the SCP.
