Tag: poverty

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Fraser Nelson travels ‘home’ to shame city with child poverty level lower than the many he passed on the way from the South

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks again to AR for alerting me to this. Self-described ‘Scot’, born in England, Glasgow graduate, Conservative, benefits scrounger-hunter and former editor of the Spectator, Fraser Nelson is in the Herald today to tell us: We are not getting any nearer to solving poverty that is blight on Glasgow Child poverty in Glasgow is currently 33.5%. Shameful, I know, but on the way, Nelson missed the opportunity to visit and to lecture the people of the above local authorities identified by Action for Children or these local authorities, below, identified by The Health Foundation in July this … Continue reading Fraser Nelson travels ‘home’ to shame city with child poverty level lower than the many he passed on the way from the South

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Eradicating child poverty costs nothing in the long term because everything depends on it

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily, finishing today at 3pm, to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland – a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson By Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian in December 2024: The news that more than one in three children in the UK are now living in poverty should shock everyone but surprise no one. Nearly three years … Continue reading Eradicating child poverty costs nothing in the long term because everything depends on it

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Who constitutes the country? Surely, families in poverty are part of that?

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By Alasdair Macdonald ’Country before Party’ is what the Labour manifesto pledged. Setting aside for the moment what ‘country’ connotes, how does Ms McNeill and other Labour MPs justify their decision to support the continuation of the ‘two-child benefit cap’? Their argument is that ‘the country(?) cannot afford it at present. But, who constitutes the country? Surely, families in poverty are part of that? And, why are they in poverty? Because they have not got enough money even though, in most cases, at least one member of the family is in paid employment, and wages are low, hours are few … Continue reading Who constitutes the country? Surely, families in poverty are part of that?

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A lesson for any tempted to vote Labour in Holyrood 2026 – Researchers reveal the policy supported by Scottish Labour causes children to go hungry

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Labour’s Westminster House Jock and North British branches celebrate English Labour’s election victory under their shared flag, before going on to vote to keep the Dead Conservative’s two-child benefit cap, shown by the IFS to increase child poverty levels. Not only has the Institute for Fiscal Studies proved that the two-child benefit cap is the main cause of child poverty in the UK but today, we read in the Guardian: Families hit by the two-child benefit cap are much more likely to go hungry, skip meals or be unable to afford to eat healthily, according to new data which shows … Continue reading A lesson for any tempted to vote Labour in Holyrood 2026 – Researchers reveal the policy supported by Scottish Labour causes children to go hungry

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New Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock Labour MP betrays all she claims to stand for and votes to keep the cruel two child benefit cap and her £91K job

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Before the 2024 General Election in the local Ayrshire newspapers: Elaine Stewart, Labour candidate said: “As someone who works daily with children and young people in some of the affected communities, I can assure you that reason I am standing is to ensure that the child poverty is high on the agenda on a daily basis. “I run food banks and, to be perfectly honest, children and young people should not be eating from this form of support on a daily basis. “Addressing child poverty in Scotland requires a sustained, collaborative effort across various sectors and levels of government, with … Continue reading New Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock Labour MP betrays all she claims to stand for and votes to keep the cruel two child benefit cap and her £91K job

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So simple and effective but Scottish – The SNP Child Payment scares other UK child poverty activists and experts into deathly silence

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The omission by a leading poverty charity on BBC Woman’s Hour  – it’s hard to conceive of a discussion of the ‘two-child benefit cap’ in which reference to the Scottish Child Payment could have been more apposite!  Inexplicable or what? By stewartb – a long read I listened to a lengthy piece on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour (11 July) on the ‘two-child benefit cap’. This is arguably a ‘flagship’ BBC programme with a UK-wide target audience: it is a valuable platform for advocacy groups. The item was prompted by a new Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)  report on … Continue reading So simple and effective but Scottish – The SNP Child Payment scares other UK child poverty activists and experts into deathly silence

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Vote for KEEPING child poverty with Labour

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By Professor John Robertson Astonishing! FFS Labour voted against the Scottish Child Payment, plan no reversal of the two-child benefit cap, have voted against free school meals and in Labour Wales, child poverty is far higher, yet the Daily Record allow Brown to lie shamefaced. In the Guardian on June 7th 2024: Local child poverty rates across the UK correlate very strongly with the percentage of families affected by the two-child benefit cap, research has found, indicating that the controversial policy is a key factor behind children growing up in deprivation. The study, carried out by Loughborough University for the End Child Poverty Coalition, will … Continue reading Vote for KEEPING child poverty with Labour

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Do Scotland’s Labour candidates support their leader’s laughing at child poverty and leaving thousands of them in it?

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Here’s Sir Keir, tin-eared and clearly complacent about poverty, laughing at a wee girl talking about her family’s fuel poverty: What kind of people are the Labour candidates in Scotland, if they can keep going behind this horrible man? And, do the Labour candidates in Scotland accept his views on the two child benefit cap? See this from the Canary, today: The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) estimates that the two child benefit cap impacts 1.5 million children, including 1.1 million children in poverty. Abolishing the cap, CPAG states, would lift 250,000 children out of poverty. And it would improve even worse poverty for … Continue reading Do Scotland’s Labour candidates support their leader’s laughing at child poverty and leaving thousands of them in it?

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Child poverty – Loughborough researchers being used by Scottish media to misinform audiences

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In the Guardian today: Local child poverty rates across the UK correlate very strongly with the percentage of families affected by the two-child benefit cap, research has found, indicating that the controversial policy is a key factor behind children growing up in deprivation. The study, carried out by Loughborough University for the End Child Poverty Coalition, will heap pressure on Labour over the party’s refusal to abolish the cap, which limits universal credit and child tax credit to a family’s first two children, if they come into power. The limit can cost families more than £3,000 a year for each additional child, with … Continue reading Child poverty – Loughborough researchers being used by Scottish media to misinform audiences

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Sorting child poverty the Scottish way – the Archbishop, the Bishop, the thinktank Chief Exec, the editor and Gordon Brown all avoid looking north

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By Professor John Robertson Again, alerted by Dottie’s Phone You won’t be surprised to hear there’s not a word, from this Labour Party elder, of Scotland’s far lower child poverty nor of how the SNP’s child payment is leading to its disappearance in Scotland, nor of Labour’s refusal to end the cruel two-child benefit cap, if elected. Maybe the Archbishop will mention poverty in Scotland and the Child Benefit? Not a word. It turns out the Bishop of Leicester too had a piece in the Guardian yesterday. He doesn’t know about Scotland either, it seems, but does mention Labour, if … Continue reading Sorting child poverty the Scottish way – the Archbishop, the Bishop, the thinktank Chief Exec, the editor and Gordon Brown all avoid looking north