Somerville criticises ‘lack of ambition’ in UK Government’s child poverty strategy

Scotland’s Social Justice Secretary has said she is disappointed by a “lack of ambition” in the UK Government’s proposed child poverty strategy.

Shirley-Anne Somerville said the initiative is a consolidation of previous policies rather than anything new, after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced it while in Glasgow on Thursday night.

The scheme is aimed at achieving the largest reduction in child poverty since records began, cutting numbers by 550,000 by 2030.

Sir Keir said: “Every child deserves the best possible start in life, with their future no longer determined by the circumstances of their birth.”

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland on Friday, Scotland Office minister Kirsty McNeill spoke about Labour’s plans.

She said: “Ultimately, the plans that have been announced today and in past weeks are going to lead to the fastest and largest reduction in child poverty since records began.

“Do we of course want to end in a situation where no child in this country is in poverty? Yes, we do, but the plans that were announced at the Budget of abolishing the two-child cap will impact about 95,000 children in Scotland.

“It’s a great start, and of course we will go further. But the start that’s being made will impact on 95,000 kids, and that has to be a good day.”

When asked what new information was being announced, Ms McNeill said it was “the consolidation” of a range of policies.

She said: “You can hold us to account because that information is consolidated in one place. I really wouldn’t underestimate how important that is for people who, frankly, do not have the time to follow along every Government announcement.”

Also speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, Scottish Social Justice Secretary Ms Somerville said she was disappointed by the proposals.

She said: “When we heard from the UK Government that they were going to do this strategy on child poverty, the Scottish Government did welcome it, because we did feel for the first time we may be able to work with the UK Government to tackle child poverty.

“That is the First Minister’s central mission for our Government. What I would say is I’m disappointed by the scale of the ambition in this and I think Kirsty McNeill rather admitted earlier on that what we were seeing was a consolidation of previously announced policies, rather than really anything new today.”

She said the UK Government has announced “good policies”, but repeated her concerns over a “lack of ambition”.

Ms Somerville said: “It’s a good thing that the UK Government are now eventually getting rid of the two-child limit. The Scottish Government was due to mitigate that early in the new year, and the UK Government is stepping in. That is good news. There are good policies in there that the UK Government are announcing.

“But what I would go back to is the lack of ambition. The First Minister wants to eradicate child poverty. We have statutory targets to drive down child poverty in Scotland.”