In the Guardian today:

Four in 10 UK [sic] parents struggle to afford essentials for newborns, study says – Exclusive: Survey of 2,000 people by Barnardo’s also finds almost half feel their child has missed opportunities due to cost

and four paragraphs down well away from the ‘UK’ headline:

In Scotland, all parents are eligible for a box of baby essentials that includes clothes, books, a changing mat and a bath towel. Since the scheme was launched by the Scottish government in 2017, more than 360,000 baby boxes have been distributed. However, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, provision is inconsistent.

Barnardo’s is calling for the scheme to be rolled out nationwide, citing widespread public support for the initiative. Seven in 10 parents surveyed said baby boxes should be made universally available.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/apr/09/four-in-10-uk-parents-struggle-to-afford-newborn-babies-essentials-study-barnardos

What you won’t hear is this.

In July 2023:

The MSM have gleefully jumped on this news:

Researchers at the University of Glasgow found claims that handing expectant parents around £160 worth of baby products, in a box that can double as a makeshift crib, had not saved lives as SNP ministers had claimed it would.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/07/09/sturgeons-baby-box-policy-failed-to-improve-child-health/#:~:text=Researchers%20at%20the%20University%20of,ministers%20had%20claimed%20it%20would.

Leaving aside a strong feeling that GU is a strongly Unionist and, indeed, Atlanticist institution, the above research, by Social Science staff, has a fundamental flaw, in that it simplifies a complex event with multiple causes and tries to suggest that flatlining infant mortality reveals proof of one factor, the apparent inability of just one factor on its own, the SNP baby boxes scheme, to maintain the longer-term reductions in infant mortality.

This is barely less stupid than the English research in 2017 claiming that the boxes were a fire risk.

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health is clear and seems to know a bit more about the complexity of infant mortality than these GU social scientists:

Infant mortality rates across all UK countries have declined markedly over the past 40 years. However, progress has slowed over the past 20 years, particularly compared to other European nations…The great majority of neonatal (first month) deaths are due to perinatal causes, particularly preterm birth, and are strongly related to maternal health.https://stateofchildhealth.rcpch.ac.uk/evidence/mortality/infant-mortality/

Maternal health and associated baby health are the most influential factors and are clearly affected by the level of poverty in which expectant mothers must live. Those most disadvantaged have been living for more than a decade under Tory austerity policies which have inevitably weakened them.

So, it is possible that the baby boxes have helped to stem what might have been a decline rather than a flatlining in infant mortality. I make no such claim because, like the GU researchers, I don’t have enough evidence.

The most recent infant mortality rates in England and Scotland are 3.9 and 3.5 per 1 000 live births.

Again for the media operating in Scotland, ‘just the same’ but….

With nearly 600 000 and 45 000 total births respectively, that 0.4% difference means 2 400 babies not surviving in England who might have done had their mothers not suffered two decades of full-on austerity. It means 180 babies surviving in Scotland who might not have had they been born in a country where austerity was moderated.

Sources: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/childhoodinfantandperinatalmortalityinenglandandwales/2023

https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/publications/vital-events-reference-tables-2024/