Cold and hungry children cannot wait for action
Scottish and UK Governments must stretch every sinew to end child poverty, says Scottish Greens spokesperson for social justice Maggie Chapman MSP, who was speaking during a Scottish Government debate on tackling child poverty and inequality through the Budget.
Speaking at the debate, Ms Chapman said:
“Cold and hungry children cannot wait for Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer to decide their self-imposed fiscal conditions have been met. The evil - and I don’t use that word lightly - of the two-child limit must be abolished now, with immediate effect, not at some hypothetical point in a theoretical future.
“Every day that the UK Labour government fails to act is a stain on its party history and a betrayal of its founding principles. It is callous treachery towards children of the UK and the families who struggle to keep them safe.”
In 2021 the Scottish Greens worked hard to get the Scottish Child Payment doubled for the children and families who rely on this support. Ms Chapman today called for the Scottish Government to increase this further to £40 per week as soon as possible.
Ms Chapman added:
“Child poverty is family poverty, and overwhelmingly, the poverty of women. Families in poverty need holistic support – support that is financial, but also practical and emotional. To find and keep good, secure work with decent pay and conditions, that aligns with the responsibilities of family life. This type of work is difficult for all parents, but especially for single mothers.”
The Scottish Greens also previously secured free school meals for all P1 to P5 pupils, and have called for the SNP to extend this to all primary school pupils as part of this year’s budget negotiations.
Ms Chapman added:
“The rollout of universal free school meals really matters: for the families who don’t get them now, but need them, those for whom the burden of public debt is an insupportable weight on their wellbeing.
“But also, for those children who qualify now for free school meals, but for whom the pain of stigma is as sharp as the pain of hunger. Promises to children matter; we don’t discard them when it’s inconvenient.”