Minimum Income Guarantee must arrive with no delays
The Scottish Greens have welcomed recommendations from a Scottish Government Expert Group that nobody in Scotland should live on less than a minimum income.
The Minimum Income Guarantee: a roadmap to dignity for all suggests that social security, employment and other policies should be geared to ensuring nobody falls below the Minimum Income Standard.
The Minimum Income Standard is published by the independent Joseph Rowntree Foundation and is based on polling the public on what they think. This produces an MIS generally significantly above current social security payments.
Scottish Greens social justice spokesperson, Maggie Chapman MSP said:
“Poverty is not inevitable. The UK is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but there are thousands of families struggling to make ends meet and parents being forced to skip meals.
“Over a decade of austerity has caused unimaginable harm to our communities. UK Labour’s refusal to scrap the brutal two child benefit cap and bedroom tax is still forcing folk into poverty. We have a duty here in Scotland to do everything we can to build a social security system that keeps folk safe.
“The Minimum Income Standard published today is an important step forward on this journey - and potentially be a game changer in terms of tackling poverty, boosting health and wellbeing, and removing so much of the stigma of our social security system.
“I hope the Scottish Government takes this opportunity to ensure that everyone, no matter their circumstances, can access the essentials to live in health, happiness and dignity.”