Meeting of the Parliament 06 November 2018
Today’s debate takes place in the week that Professor Philip Alston, who is the United Nations’ special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, will visit Scotland as part of a wider UK visit to consider the links between poverty and human rights. As Professor Alston and the UN believes, the Scottish Government believes that poverty is an urgent and pressing human rights concern that requires action from all of us. Therefore, I hope that his visit enlightens him about the reality of poverty across the UK for so many people; about the concerted work of this Government, our local authorities and the third sector to tackle poverty and inequalities, particularly child poverty; and about Scotland’s record on standing up for human rights. I hope that he will also realise that, despite those efforts, child poverty is set to rise because of the UK Government’s continued onslaught of welfare cuts—cuts that in Scotland alone will mean that social security spending will reduce by an eye-watering £3.7 billion in 2020-21.
Like many members, I had hoped that last week’s UK budget statement would reverse some of the most damaging impacts of UK Government welfare cuts. Unfortunately, despite improvements to work allowances, the fundamental changes that the Scottish Government along with many others called for have not been made, and the UK Government’s approach to welfare is set to continue to drive more people into poverty.