Scottish budget cuts 'hit bid to end child poverty by 2020'

Published on Friday 12 June 2009 22:13

A DRIVE to end child poverty by 2020 is under threat because of cuts to Scotland's budget, Scottish ministers have warned.

The UK government yesterday published its Child Poverty Bill, which would make it compulsory for devolved administrations and councils to hit the target set by former prime minister Tony Blair.

But the bill has sparked a row north of the Border because it comes as the Treasury aims to trim Scotland's budget by about 500 million in 2010/11 and by the same amount the following year.

The Scottish Government has said it wants to meet the child poverty target but that the cuts will make this difficult.

A spokesman for Finance Secretary John Swinney said: "Given our shared commitment to tackle child poverty, this is another reason why the UK government should withdraw their ill-conceived proposals to cut Scotland's budget by 500 million per annum from next year. The two measures are entirely inconsistent."

The UK government insists the Scottish budget will continue to grow, but accepts that the growth will be slower than previously expected.

However, despite the argument over money, the Scottish Government is signed up to the 2020 target and has promised it is "doing all within its powers available to help achieve the goal of eradicating child poverty."

A Scottish Government spokesman added: "We firmly believe children in Scotland deserve the best possible start in life and we do not want to see any child being born into or condemned to live a life of poverty.

"It is simply morally unacceptable that 20 per cent of our children still live in relative poverty."

Charities yesterday hailed the bill as a landmark in ending child poverty but said there was still much work to be done.

John Dickie, head of the Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland, urged Holyrood and Westminster to co-operate to end low pay, a lack of childcare and inadequate benefits.

He added: "Scotland and the rest of the UK have much higher levels of child poverty than most wealthy countries and that is wrong. But we won't end child poverty until we end the culture of inequality that has blighted Britain for the last 30 years."

However, there were also concerns about the effect of the recession.

Tom Roberts, head of public affairs for Children 1st, Scotland's biggest children's charity, said: "As the current economic uncertainty continues, it is the poorest children and their families who will suffer most."