Hansard

I am conscious of time, First Minister.

Many of those areas are the full responsibility of the Scottish Government, which has failed to take meaningful action.

You cannot tackle poverty if people do not have safe and secure homes, but, under the SNP, thousands of Scots are stuck in substandard housing, tens of thousands are homeless and looking for homes and we have record levels of children in temporary accommodation. There was no mention of that from the First Minister.

You cannot tackle poverty if children are not getting the opportunities that they deserve, but there is still an attainment gap and an opportunity gap in our education system, where children from working-class backgrounds are less likely to go to university and less likely to start a business or learn a trade. There was no mention of that from the First Minister.

You cannot tackle poverty if people do not get the healthcare that they need, regardless of their background, but health inequalities persist, with heart disease and cancer more common among the less well-off and life expectancy lower for those in poverty. There was no mention of that from the First Minister. Soaring NHS waiting lists are forcing more and more Scots to empty their savings accounts and to remortgage or sell their homes to pay for private treatment. Those long waits are forcing Scots out of work, which is only adding to their economic insecurity, but there was no mention of that from the First Minister.

You cannot tackle poverty if our communities are not safe places to live, but SNP cuts to criminal justice and policing in Scotland have left communities in a permanent state of insecurity and have led to a revolving prison door for repeat offenders. There was no mention of that from the First Minister.

You cannot tackle poverty without good, secure work, but this SNP Government continues to view zero-hours contracts as a positive destination for young Scots. There was no mention of that from the First Minister.

We know that this Government likes to talk about what it does not have control of, but the fact is that it could do so much more with its powers to tackle the root causes of poverty right now. If we are to have a credible debate about how to lift children out of poverty and eradicate poverty in our country, we must realise that we need to have a multispoke approach to tackling the root causes of the issue.

To tackle poverty, we must ensure that every Scot has a safe, warm home, a safe and secure community, an NHS that is there for them and that is free at the point of need and an education system that helps them to thrive and achieve their potential.

I realise that I am in my final minute, but I will touch on how we are going to fulfil our promise of providing a new deal for working people and making work pay through the introduction of a bill on that in Parliament tomorrow. We will ban fire and rehire, ban exploitative zero-hours contracts, repeal Tory anti-trade union legislation and deliver a real living wage, which will boost pay for thousands of Scots. That is the change that we are getting on with delivering.

If this Government wants to have a credible debate about poverty, it must accept its responsibility, from housing to the NHS and from the economy to our education system.

Some in this chamber may want to blame a Government that has been in power for three months, while absolving the responsibility of one Government that was in power for 14 years and another that has been in power for 17 years, but if we are to challenge poverty, that will require action from both Governments. Where something is a UK Government responsibility, it must act; where responsibility is shared, both Governments must act and co-operate; and where something is the Scottish Government’s responsibility, it should act, putting the national interest before its own party interest. That will require a cross-portfolio, cross-Government response, and that is what Scottish Labour supports.

I move amendment S6M-14820.3, to leave out from “agrees” to end and insert:

“regrets that poverty levels in Scotland are still far too high, with 30,000 more children in Scotland living in poverty compared with 2007; recognises the need to support vulnerable people through the cost of living crisis and over winter with energy bills; welcomes, therefore, the announcement by the UK Government to extend the Household Support Fund, which will deliver an estimated £41 million in Barnett consequential funding, and calls on the Scottish Government to use this funding to deliver a package of support to help low-income pensioners and households by re-establishing the Fuel Insecurity Fund; considers that reducing poverty in the long term will require action across all of the themes of Challenge Poverty Week, as supported by hundreds of anti-poverty charities and third sector organisations across Scotland, and believes that this will require progress in all of the areas of policy that have been devolved to the Scottish Parliament, including ending the housing and homelessness emergency, improving health and education outcomes, making transport more accessible, supporting people into work and creating good, well-paid jobs in all parts of the country.”