John Swinney has pledged a “sustained focus” on child poverty in Scotland, as he insisted the action of Sir Keir Starmer’s Government will make that challenge “ever more difficult”.
The Scottish First Minister criticised the Labour administration over the impact welfare reforms will have on the poorest in the country.
He said: “I just cannot fathom how the Labour Party live with themselves with what they are doing.”
He accepted his goal of eradicating child poverty in Scotland was a “big challenge”, and said a “combination of different interventions” would be needed.
The SNP leader said cutting poverty will be even harder because of recent decisions taken by the UK Government.
Since winning the general election in July last year, Sir Keir has cut billions in welfare support, including an overhaul of the disability benefits system and the axing of universal winter fuel payments.
In an interview with the PA news agency, Mr Swinney said he found it “inconceivable” that decisions taken by a Labour government could increase child poverty.
He said: “In our journey on eradicating child poverty, the journey is not one without its headwinds, and one of the headwinds that’s coming our way is the fact that the UK Government is now undertaking a programme of welfare reform which on their own estimation is likely to increase levels of child poverty.
“That presents me with a problem because, essentially, the measures we’re trying to take forward in Scotland will have to work harder because the UK Government is making our task ever more difficult.
“I almost find this inconceivable that I’m having to contemplate measures to deal with rising child poverty because of a Labour government.
“In all my lifetime, Labour governments came into office to try to reduce child poverty, and to their credit, in the early part of the century, they did that.”
Mr Swinney said former Labour prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown did “commendable work” to reduce child poverty, but Mr Starmer was “willingly volunteering policy change that will increase levels of child poverty”.
“That is going to make our challenge ever more difficult,” he said, adding that he was still “utterly resolute” in his goal to eradicate child poverty.
“But I have to be candid with people – it’s going to be more difficult if the UK Government is taking away some of the support already in place.”
He added: “I don’t understand what the point of the Labour Government is. I am disappointed in the Labour Government.
“I would have thought, based on previous stances of the Labour Party, that an objective of a Labour government would be to reduce child poverty, and the Labour Government has produced a green paper which, on their own estimate, will increase child poverty by 50,000.
“That’s going to have a consequential impact in Scotland. I can’t make Scotland immune from that.
“What I’ve got to do is I’ve got to make our interventions work as hard as they can to overcome the failure of the Labour Party to tackle child poverty.”
The First Minister said Scots were looking at Labour in “absolute bewilderment” over its welfare decisions.
In March, it was revealed the Scottish Government had missed its own targets to reduce child poverty.
Figures for 2023 and 2024 showed relative child poverty was at 22% while absolute poverty was at 17%.
The figures were lower than the year before but fell short of the Government’s goal of 18% and 14% respectively.
Charities have urged the Scottish Government to increase the Scottish child payment to help bring down poverty levels.
But the First Minister appeared to rule out any rise in the benefit this year.
“The budget has been set for this year and we have to live within the resources that are available to us,” he said.
He also warned about setting it too high, saying a “very careful balance” must be struck to ensure the payment did not “disincentivise access to employment”.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “No-one should be living in poverty, and we know that the best route out of poverty for struggling families is well paid, secure work.
“That is why, as part of our Plan for Change, we are reforming our broken welfare system, so it helps people into good jobs, boosting living standards and putting money in people’s pockets.
“Alongside this, our Child Poverty Taskforce is building an ambitious strategy to give all children the best start in life while we increase the living wage, uprate benefits, and support 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a fair repayment rate on universal credit deductions to help low-income households.”
