You can see what he’s done there and why he’s done it. Playground point-scoring with some very selective use of statistics, at the two ends of a 16 year period, and concealing what happened in between – Tory austerity.
Here is the detail Hutcheon doesn’t want you to be aware of:
After only 7 years in power, within the limitations of devolved budgets, the SNP had reduced relative child poverty to 21% from 24% under Labour.
Then as Tory austerity began to bite from 2010, and despite the efforts of the Scottish Government, relative poverty began to climb back to 24% in Scotland, and 27% in England.
That 3% difference matters. It means around 100 000 more children in poverty in England than had they lived in Scotland and around 10 000 fewer in Scotland than had they lived in England.
Hutcheon’s no daft. He’s devious.
Talking-up Scotland 
Something more to add to the evidence base!
Source: Stone, S (2022) Local indicators of child poverty after housing costs, 2020/21. Centre for Research in Social Policy Loughborough University for the End Child Poverty Coalition. (https://endchildpoverty.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Local-child-poverty-indicators-report-2022_FINAL.pdf )
Here are some of the key findings (with my emphasis):
1) ‘Child poverty was down overall in the UK in 2020/21, but is likely to be A TEMPORARY IMPROVEMENT RELATED to the additional support provided to low-income families during the Covid-19 pandemic via the £20 uplift to Universal Credit.’
2) ‘There is substantial regional variation in the AHC rates. CHILD POVERTY HAS CONTINUED TO INCREASE IN THE NORTH EAST AND WALES, and the North East has now overtaken London to have the highest AHC child poverty rate in the UK.
(Yes Wales, that country with a Labour-controlled government which is also saddled with limited devolved powers!)
3) ‘Although rates remain high in London overall, at 35%, for the first time in the period covered by this data series (from 2014/15), the North East has overtaken London to have the highest AHC child poverty rate, at 38%. SCOTLAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND CONTINUE TO HAVE LOWER CHILD POVERTY RATES AHC, at 21% and 24%, respectively, while THE RATE IN WALES IN MUCH HIGHER, AT 34%.’
So at 21%, in 2021-22 Scotland had BY FAR THE LOWEST RATE of any UK nation or region (see the report’s Fig. 1)
4) ‘.. areas affected by already high rates of unemployment and in-work poverty, particularly in the North East of England and in WALES, saw SUBSTANTIAL INCREASES IN CHILD POVERTY BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER HOUSING COSTS between 2019/20 and 2020/21.’
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” Lies , damned lies , and selective statistics by the Unionist media !”
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Hutcheon, on his entry into the noble profession of journalism, was sent to the sports desk. Within days, his contemporaries in the funny pages of the papers had sussed – this guy is useless, so he found his way quickly to politics.
From my position among the sports writers who were around when he started, I can say – he is that stupid.
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Not just devious but deliberately deflecting from an article in the National https://archive.ph/ladIp on the FM’s final FMQs…
I wonder which assistant of whom sent out the first “Make smoke” signal, Sarwar DRoss, or perhaps even the Tailor’s Dummy…
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I note in the same Daily Record article on poverty by Mr Hutcheon this (with my emphasis): ‘Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy said: “The SNP’s failure to tackle poverty is A SHAMEFUL BLIGHT on their record in government.
“A single person in poverty is one too many and a single day spent in poverty is a day too many – but the SNP SEEM CONTENT to let things stall at these devastating levels.
“It’s clear both of our governments have FAILED MISERABLY to protect people from the cost of living crisis, SQUANDERING THE LEGACY OF THE LAST LABOUR GOVERNMENT.”
Now I have much regard for Ms Duncan-Glancy, especially her forensic interrogations in Parliamentary committee but, candidly, this is poor, crass politicking, trivialising a too important subject. It does her and the leadership of her party no credit!
I noted earlier this from the Centre for Research in Social Policy Loughborough University for the End Child Poverty Coalition:
‘.. areas affected by already high rates of unemployment and in-work poverty, particularly in the North East of England and in WALES, saw SUBSTANTIAL INCREASES IN CHILD POVERTY BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER HOUSING COSTS between 2019/20 and 2020/21.’
I wouldn’t dream of berating the Drakeford government in Cardiff with ‘shameful blight’, ‘miserable failure’ or ‘seeming content’ with children in poverty. And to use Ms Duncan-Glancy’s words, given the rate of child poverty in Wales, has Welsh Labour also ‘squandered the legacy’ of a prior Labour government? Do her Labour colleagues in Wales know of the implications of her remarks?
As long-in-office Welsh Labour have found, with severely limited tax raising and borrowing powers plus the imposition of a decade or more of Tory austerity plus other Union ‘benefits’ bestowed by Westminster (e.g. cuts to Universal Credit) plus the impact of a global pandemic, doing ALL one would wish to advance poverty reduction/elimination is, let’s say, easier said by a Labour MSP than done by (any) devolved government!
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Chikd benefit introduced. £25 a week. That will be increased. To tackle child poverty. Kinship allowance. More provision for those in care. Educational allowances. France, Germany and Italy pay higher taxes to provide for a higher Gov pension.
Scotland loses £Billion from Brexit. Tax evasion and military/Trident.
Increased nursery funding etc.
Scotland would be better off Independent. Having control over all taxing and spending,
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