Professor John Robertson OBA
I seem to have missed the above very significant research from the London School of Economics. You’d think our media, especially BBC Scotland which we all pay for would have been all over it.
There was media coverage in Scotland though it and the UK coverage tended to go for the secondary finding:
Ministers and others have expressed concern that this ‘cliff edge’ could act as a disincentive to parents to increase their earnings, and that any boost to the value of the payment would increase the disincentive. However, the researchers find no evidence to suggest that the Scottish child payment has reduced labour supply.
Did any part of the BBC cover it?
From a 26 source survey:
No, the BBC does not appear to have reported on this specific LSE study (titled something along the lines of “Deprivation prevented by introduction of Scottish Child Payment: first cross-nation study finds”).Extensive searches across BBC websites (bbc.co.uk and bbc.com) for terms related to the Scottish Child Payment, child deprivation/poverty, LSE/London School of Economics, “deprivation prevented”, or “cross-nation study” returned no matching articles.
What might have encouraged this neglect?
Emerging evidence from a research project bringing together economists and social policy academics from the Universities of York, Glasgow and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has found “statistically significant reductions in both child material deprivation and food insecurity relative to England, after the introduction of the SCP (Scottish child payment).”
By comparing trends north and south of the border the researchers find that the effects of the Scottish child payment (SCP) are “considerable in size” and “that both material deprivation and food insecurity would have been between 8 and 9 percentage points higher in Scotland without the SCP.” This equates to over 70,000 fewer Scottish children in either material deprivation or food insecurity than would have been the case without the payments.
The findings are based on analysis of the DWP’s UK-wide Family Resources Survey. Alongside interviews with low-income families in Scotland and in England they offer the first comparative study across UK nations of the impact that the unique Scottish child payment is having. The payment is already widely credited with lifting at least 40,000 children out of poverty at a time when child poverty across the UK continued to rise.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Under Starmer the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.
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This failure to report ”Scottish Good News” appears to be almost like a virus among the unionist media .
STV last night even attempted to make the Scottish Government appear to have a problem by having extra money to spend in the next Scottish Budget .
The ”problem ” STV News highlighted was the money earmarked to mitigate the Two Child Benefit Cap is now not required as ( belatedly ) Labour has agreed to scrap it . The reporter was at pains to point out the ”problem ” of having extra money that needs to be allocated . Dearie me ! What a problem to have !
So even ”good news” is seen by the media as something to be reported negatively – if it affects Scotland !
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Please tell me your no still paying the bbc tax—huvny paid it fur 20 years.
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