Unite Against Austerity Call

The Scottish Government will call for a "united front" against welfare cuts later.

Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil says planned £12billion benefits cuts will push even more children into poverty, and wants charities to rally against them.

One in five Fife youngsters live in below the breadline, with parts of Levenmouth, Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes and West Fife among the 20 percent most deprived in Scotland.

Mr Neil will make the call at the Child Poverty Action Group Scotland's annual conference.

The first of these cuts, he will say, is the UK Government’s Full Employment and Welfare Bill which will freeze the main rates of the majority of working age benefit tax credits and child benefit for two years from 2016-17, and reduce benefit expenditure in Scotland by around £130 million.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) estimate that 11 million families in the UK, including an estimated one million families in Scotland, will be affected by the plans to freeze benefits.

Ahead of the conference Mr Neil will visit the Shettleston Housing Association’s Smelly Welly Club gardening project in Glasgow which encourages children and their parents to get together to grow their own food, save money and improve their diets.

Mr Neil will say: “The UK Government’s proposed £12 billion cuts will have a detrimental impact on Scotland and will do nothing to tackle the scourge of child poverty.

“We need to present a united front against these additional measures and I would encourage every organisation working to tackle inequalities and fighting poverty, to add their voice to this debate.

“Through our Child Poverty Strategy we are already working with partners to reduce levels of poverty amongst households with children and to break inter-generational cycles of poverty, inequality and deprivation.

“The Scottish Government, alongside CPAG and others wants a more equal society, we want to create jobs and lift people out of poverty, and we will continue to listen to the advice of organisations who are working directly with families across the country.

“However if we are having to fund mitigation then we have a much harder challenge ahead of us. Our resources should be used to take positive action and tackle existing inequalities, not fight just to keep people at a standing position.

“The Smith Commission proposals gave the Scottish Government limited powers to make real inroads into child poverty outcomes. We will work with all concerned to make sure that the new powers we have will lead to better results for people in Scotland.”

John Dickie the Director of Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland said: “With key areas of social security set to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament today’s Child Poverty Action Group conference is bringing together over 180 frontline advisers to get the latest details on what exactly is being proposed and share ideas on how new powers might be used to improve benefit support and tackle poverty more effectively.

“The discussion is crucial coming as it does against a backdrop of rising child poverty and the threat of further cuts to the UK benefits that families both in and out of work rely on.”