It’s some time since Foulkes made the above statement (2008) revealing the depths of the Labour gene pool in Scotland, so I can’t source the claim in my headline.
The facts, however are the facts.
In 2002, the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) produced this list list of the UK’s bottom ten, poorest constituencies, a few years before the first SNP government:
Glasgow Shettleston
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2002/feb/18/socialexclusion
Glasgow Springburn
Glasgow Maryhill
Birmingham Ladywood
Manchester Central
Camberwell and Peckham
Glasgow Bailleston
Liverpool Riverside
Hackney South/Shoreditch
Bethnal Green and Bow
Today, Scotland does not even make the Bottom 20 in this list produced by the UK’s Living Wage Commission
Tendring- around St Osyth and Seawick
Blackpool- the Area near The Central Pier
Blackpool- Around the Promenade by the North Pier
Thanet- In Cliftonville West
Blackpool- in the Region by the South Pier
Tendring- in the Area by Clacton-On-The-Sea
Blackpool- in the Region That Falls between Waterloo Road and St Chad’s Station
Coventry- In the Area around Hillmorton Road In Henly
Blackpool- In Woolman Road As Well As Clinton Avenue
Waveney- In the Location of the South Pier in Lowestoft
Blackpool-Around the Cookson Street
Kingston upon Hull- near St John’s Grove
North East Lincolnshire- In the Area That Is Around Oxford Street in Grimsby
Burnley- The Area That Falls On Tay Street and Howard Street
Burnley- The Region That Lies Between Belvedere Road and the Church Street
Mansfield- In Sandy Lane
Blackpool- In Carshalton Road As Well As Clevedon Road
Blackburn with Darwen- The Region of Wensley Fold
Great Yarmouth- By the Seafront
http://livingwagecommission.org.uk/poorest-uk-places/
What could be causing this u-turn in Scotland’s poverty situation? These SNP actions?
- The Bedroom Tax. [1]
- Beginning only this month, the Scottish Child Payment.[2]
- Scotland has the highest proportion of employees being paid at least the real Living Wage of all four UK nations.[3]
- Scotland has the smallest gap between median pay for the disabled and non-disabled.[4]
- Only Scotland and Wales pay the living wage to all NHS employees and Scotland was first to pay the living wage to all public-sector employees.[5]
- Scottish care workers have been receiving the Living Wage of £8.45 per hour since 2016 and receive the same rate for all ‘sleepover hours worked.[6]
- In 2019, the funeral support payment. [7]
- Far more affordable housing [ref below].
[1] https://www.gov.scot/policies/social-security/support-with-housing-costs/#:~:text=The%20bedroom%20tax,-From%20April%202013&text=This%20is%20widely%20known%20as,two%20or%20more%20additional%20bedrooms
[2] https://www.gov.scot/policies/social-security/scottish-child-payment/
[3] https://economicactionplan.mygov.scot/fair-work/real-living-wage/
[4] https://www.gov.scot/publications/fairer-scotland-disabled-people-employment-action-plan-progress-report/
[5] Make the NHS a living wage employer says UNISON
6 https://news.gov.scot/news/pay-boost-for-carers
[7] https://www.holyrood.com/articles/news/new-scottish-funeral-benefit-launches-next-week
Talking-up Scotland 
Foulkes is simply a thick t##t. There are other words that come to mind also. As he sits in the Lords he must obviously be up there, the cream of intelligence, intellectual prowess and a bafoon.
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Great point!
2002. 4 out of 10 of the UK’s bottom ten, poorest constituencies. Were in Scotland (All of them with a Labour MP)
2021 never mind the bottom 10 poorest constituencies . . . Scotland doesn’t rank in the bottom 20 poorest Constituencies.
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Also things like the carers allowance supplement for unpaid carers in Scotland, over the past year I think it amounts to about £1k, a massive help for those caring for family members who struggle to afford anything other than the basics with the EngGovs’ £66 a week, and they take every penny of Carers Allowance off income support, for carers relying on that who are not able to ‘work’. Tories and their Labour pals, always taking money from the poorest, or at best, handing out just enough to exist on the basics, or as we know, not even that now. Criminals.
Let’s not forget ‘Thatcher the milk snatcher’, (livelihood ‘snatcher’ really) plonked VAT onto utility bills as well, 17.5%, and Labour party Mr. Brown did not scrap that, he just reduced it to 5% which we all still have to pay on essential heating/cooking bills, not a luxury.
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I meant that it’s the EngGov that takes every penny of CA off Income support which is a DWP ‘benefit’, and not devolved to Scotland.
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Lordy , Lordy ! Foulkes f*cks up at every turn .
Imagine if this man was in a position to make decisions – apart from ”Make that a double !”
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