The Joseph Rowntree Foundation today asks:
Will party manifestos meet Scotland’s child poverty targets?
and opines straight-off:
All parties have published their manifestos for the 7 May Holyrood elections, but they fall well short of the action needed to meet child poverty targets, leaving the next Scottish Government to match rhetoric with action.
The researchers, above, base this largely on reading the manifestos and giving all the benefit of the doubt as to whether they might deliver them.
This is hugely naive or predisposed to not consider what the SNP has done in Scotland with Labour in Wales and in England so as to avoid praising them.
Surely any half-baked researchers would consider that key factor, what have they actually done when the had a chance to do it? Isn’t that a good guide to whether they tend to deliver their manifestos on issues like child poverty?
It’s easy.
First, another think tanks says Labour will clearly not deliver.
Institute for Fiscal Studies’ shocking revelation – Scottish Labour does not have a plan to reduce child poverty
Despite signalling that Scottish Labour wants to see falls in child poverty, the manifesto proposes little new cash support for families with children beyond additional support for childcare. The policy to increase the Scottish child payment to £40 a week for children under one is already planned by the outgoing government for 2027–28, as is the plan for breakfast clubs in primary schools. Whilst there is a plan to ‘review’ the earnings threshold for free school meals in secondary schools, there is no firm commitment here. Substantial increases in benefits of the scale likely needed to achieve the ambitious statutory child poverty targets in Scotland are lacking. https://ifs.org.uk/articles/initial-response-scottish-labour-manifesto
Second, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, themselves (!) but three different researchers in November 2025:
Child Poverty in Labour Wales predicted to be nearly 60% higher than in Scotland by 2029 placing more than 100 000 in poverty who would not have been with SNP policies
The above from the three different Joseph Rowntree Foundation researcher above is shocking. That in only Scotland will child poverty have reduced by the next Westminster election in 2029, is deep condemnation of the governments in the other three nations. What this means is that child poverty in Wales will be 57.8% higher and, in England, it will 44.5% higher, than in Scotland.
Remember that these percentage differences mean that more than a million out of the current total of nearly 4 million in England and more than 100 000 out of the quarter of a million in Wales, could be taken out of poverty if SNP policies were applied there – especially the Child Payment of £27.15 per child per week, lower rents, lower council tax, free bus fares, free prescriptions, free tuition and others.
Two different sets of researchers at the JRF but clearly not sharing even though they are researching the same topic? Bizarre.
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The ‘Scottish’ media will trumpet, “ SNP’s SHAME. More than 1 in 5 Scots youngsters in poverty.’
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I wonder how many it was during Labcons’ rule over Scotland…word has it poverty in Scotland was pretty high, sky high in fact, and terrible drugs addiction,(easy to import and distribute keep the people quiet) and young people left Scotland in their droves to find a decent living.
After devolution when Labour HQ’d in England had TEN years at the helm at Holyrood, they did not lift a finger to even attempt to right the wrongs of centuries of English rule, oh no, quite the opposite they ran with it didn’t they. The only fingers they showed were the sweary ones, laughing heir greedy, scheming grifting heads off at Scotland.
If only there was a poster comparing the BritNats’ terrible damaging legacy, with the few short years that the SNP have had to try, within EngGov restrictions, to at least mitigate against EngUKGovs’ terrible austerity and their deliberate massive reductions in the Scottish ‘budget’, crumbs that the English send back to Scotland once they’ve taken (stolen) Scotland’s vast resources and revenues as gratis.
NO THANKS!!!!
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In its news report of the JRF’s statement on the election manifestos of political parties in Scotland regarding poverty, The National newspaper quotes the social justice spokesperson for the British Labour Party in Scotland. This demonstrates yet again the party’s political hypocrisy.
On poverty reduction, Claire Baker states: “The SNP’s shameful lack of progress over the last two decades has made this all the more challenging and all the more urgent.” And: “Scottish Labour is determined to tackle poverty at its root, support the next generation and make life more affordable.”
Fortunately we can evaluate the Labour Party’s credentials for governing successfully with just devolved powers. We can use insights from the very same JRF to benchmark ‘progress’ in Wales governed from Cardiff since the advent of devolution by Labour. Has Labour in Wales ‘tackled poverty at its root’ as Ms Baker promises Scotland? Has Labour in Wales succeeded in avoiding a ‘shameful lack of progress’? In short, it has NOT!
From the JRF (10 June 2025) ‘Poverty in Wales 2025 – Very deep poverty is rising in Wales. More people using food banks, unable to heat their homes, or living in temporary accommodation, means the human cost and impact on public services is huge.’
‘Twenty years ago, JRF’s first report on poverty in Wales found a sustained and welcome decrease in poverty since the mid-1990s. Its latest analysis brings no such good news, with headline rates of poverty flatlining in the 2 decades since. That is bad enough, but most worrying of all is the rise in very deep poverty. Today, almost half of all people in poverty in Wales have incomes so low that they are in this extreme situation: this means more people forced to use food banks, unable to heat their homes or living in temporary accommodation. The human cost of poverty, especially deep poverty, and its impact on public services are huge. (my emphasis)
‘Underlying this 21st-century social failure are many years of deep cuts to social security, along with a shortage of decent jobs and affordable housing. …’
The JRF adds: ‘Poverty matters. It is in every community in Wales, amongst people of all ages, all backgrounds and in all types of families. It blights lives and costs the public purse. It is a moral outrage.’ And: ‘There has been little progress in reducing poverty in Wales over the past 20 years, with poverty rates consistently hovering around 21–22%.’ Adding: ‘Alarmingly, life expectancy in the most deprived areas has declined since 2011–13.’
Is Ms Baker, are her colleagues in the Labour Party in Scotland, unaware of the above? Or are they deliberately seeking to deceive voters, confident that the MSM in Scotland will not out their duplicity?
From the JRF (February 10, 2026): ’Next Welsh Government must drive down poverty in Wales’ (https://www.jrf.org.uk/social-security/next-welsh-government-must-drive-down-poverty-in-wales )
‘Poverty levels in Wales are some of the highest anywhere in the UK. For example, almost 1 in 3 children in Wales are growing up in poverty. This shocking situation cannot persist ..’
‘Our report, Poverty in Wales 2025, sets out the extent to which people in Wales are experiencing hardship. The story is not a good one, with 22% of people in Wales (around 700,000 people) experiencing relative poverty, with little change in the last 20 years. Underlying that is the fact that poverty has deepened in Wales — with now nearly half of all people in poverty in very deep poverty, compared to a third in the mid-1990s.’
‘The story of the period of devolution, then, is that Wales has sustained some of the highest rates of poverty in the UK.’
This is important information – it’s not whataboutery – in the context of making a legitimate assessment of the credentials of the British Labour Party and its current promises to voters in Scotland. Given the Party’s track record in government in Cardiff over decades, what credibility can it have now in Scotland? Or is the truth that devolved powers are simply insufficient to counter the harms that come from Wales (and Scotland) being within this failing, Westminster-governed Union?
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In its news report of the JRF’s statement on the election manifestos of political parties in Scotland regarding poverty, The National newspaper quotes the social justice spokesperson for the British Labour Party in Scotland. This demonstrates yet again the party’s political hypocrisy.
On poverty reduction, Claire Baker states: “The SNP’s shameful lack of progress over the last two decades has made this all the more challenging and all the more urgent.” And: “Scottish Labour is determined to tackle poverty at its root, support the next generation and make life more affordable.”
Fortunately we can assess the Labour Party’s credentials for governing successfully and addressing poverty with just devolved powers. We can call on the research findings of the very same JRF to benchmark ‘progress’ in Wales governed from Cardiff since the advent of devolution by Labour. Has Labour in Wales ‘tackled poverty at its root’ as Ms Baker promises Scotland? Has Labour in Wales succeeded in avoiding a ‘shameful lack of progress’? In short, it has NOT!
From the JRF (10 June 2025) ‘Poverty in Wales 2025 – Very deep poverty is rising in Wales. More people using food banks, unable to heat their homes, or living in temporary accommodation, means the human cost and impact on public services is huge.’
The JRF notes: ‘Twenty years ago, JRF’s first report on poverty in Wales found a sustained and welcome decrease in poverty since the mid-1990s. Its latest analysis brings no such good news, with headline rates of poverty flatlining in the 2 decades since. That is bad enough, but most worrying of all is the rise in very deep poverty. Today, almost half of all people in poverty in Wales have incomes so low that they are in this extreme situation: this means more people forced to use food banks, unable to heat their homes or living in temporary accommodation. The human cost of poverty, especially deep poverty, and its impact on public services are huge. (my emphasis)
‘Underlying this 21st-century social failure are many years of deep cuts to social security, along with a shortage of decent jobs and affordable housing. …’
The JRF adds: ‘Poverty matters. It is in every community in Wales, amongst people of all ages, all backgrounds and in all types of families. It blights lives and costs the public purse. It is a moral outrage.’ And: ‘There has been little progress in reducing poverty in Wales over the past 20 years, with poverty rates consistently hovering around 21–22%.’ Adding: ‘Alarmingly, life expectancy in the most deprived areas has declined since 2011–13.’
Is Ms Baker, are her colleagues in the Labour Party in Scotland unaware of the above? Or are they deliberately seeking to deceive voters, confident that the MSM in Scotland will not call out their duplicity?
From the JRF (February 10, 2026): ’Next Welsh Government must drive down poverty in Wales’ (https://www.jrf.org.uk/social-security/next-welsh-government-must-drive-down-poverty-in-wales )
‘Poverty levels in Wales are some of the highest anywhere in the UK. For example, almost 1 in 3 children in Wales are growing up in poverty. This shocking situation cannot persist ..’
‘Our report, Poverty in Wales 2025, sets out the extent to which people in Wales are experiencing hardship. The story is not a good one, with 22% of people in Wales (around 700,000 people) experiencing relative poverty, with little change in the last 20 years. Underlying that is the fact that poverty has deepened in Wales — with now nearly half of all people in poverty in very deep poverty, compared to a third in the mid-1990s.’
‘The story of the period of devolution, then, is that Wales has sustained some of the highest rates of poverty in the UK.’
This is important information – it’s not whataboutery – in the context of a legitimate assessment of the credentials of the British Labour Party and the worth of its promises to voters in Scotland. Given the Party’s track record in government in Cardiff over decades, what credibility can it have now in Scotland? Or is the truth that devolved powers are simply insufficient to counter the harms that come to Wales (and to Scotland) as a consequence of being within this failing, Westminster-governed Union?
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The JRF report on poverty in Wales also has this acknowledgement:
‘In many ways it is understandable that the current Welsh Government (and their predecessors and no doubt successors) will point the finger at the UK Government’s powers to impact the standard of living of people in Wales. With significant control over the social security system, the tax system and employment rights and responsibilities, it is undeniable that decisions taken in London have significant impacts on people across Wales as well as on the spending power of the Welsh Government.’ (my emphasis)
It seems that Unionists in government in Cardiff accept this whilst Unionists in opposition in Holyrood seek to deny the ‘undeniable’!
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