Challenge Poverty Week: Chapman calls for greater ambition
Tackling poverty in Scotland requires a step up in ambition, Scottish Greens human rights and social security spokesperson Maggie Chapman has said.
Challenge Poverty Week, organised by the Poverty Alliance, starts today to build awareness and support for solutions to poverty.
Marking the start of the week, Maggie Chapman said: “Challenge Poverty Week comes in the same week as the UK Government is delivering the biggest ever cut to social security in modern history, and we need to use the powers we have in Scotland to mitigate that cruel policy.
“But even before the pandemic, Scotland was on track to miss child poverty targets. That’s why the Scottish Greens won new grants going to young carers, £100m worth of Pandemic Relief Payments to hundreds of thousands of families, an expansion of free school meals, and universal free bus travel for all under 22s, which comes into force in January.
“Now our shared policy agreement in government means we will double the Scottish Child Payment, introduce rent controls and see more support for people impacted by the benefit cap. Crucially, the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan will explore further ways we can tackle the levels of poverty in Scotland which should shame us all.
“There needs to be a step up in ambition if we are going to truly tackle poverty. That means transforming our economy so that wealth, ownership and power is redistributed.”