Hansard

I could not agree more. That should have been done years ago. The member knows my position on that and I am sure that he agrees with it. He is in the same political party as members on the Government front bench, so perhaps he could put as much pressure as he can on the Government to fulfil that obligation, because infrastructure is absolutely key. Digital, road and transport infrastructure is all necessary for economic growth.

Solving a systemic problem such as child poverty is an admirable ambition. I have long held the belief—mostly born out of life experience, rather than political ideology—that economic growth and opportunity are the key routes out of poverty. We need to grow our economy by far more than just 1 per cent per year. Whether that is a couple of percentage points either side of the UK average is irrelevant, because the economy needs to be growing by double-digit figures if we are to have the sort of growth in the tax base that we need to improve public services.

We need three things to happen—we need more businesses, more jobs and better wage growth. All three must happen; success in just one will not suffice. It is no coincidence that the three Opposition amendments stress the importance of economic growth as part of the national mission.

It is also my view that the programme for government should have defined how the Government will advance—not just grow—the Scottish economy, how we will tackle the skill shortages that we all know exist in many sectors and how the Government will invest in the industries of the future. It is all very well name dropping life sciences, precision manufacturing, aerospace and renewables, but that is not the same as doing something about growing them and attracting investment into the country. We know that those industries are our unique selling points. They have business leaders who say to us that they want the Government to help, not hinder, their growth.

Not everyone will want to go into those industries of the future—I understand that. Many young people—in particular, those from deprived communities—may not see a route or a path to them. However, those people still deserve life chances. On the other side of the coin, how can someone become a barber, a plumber, an electrician or a welder if the training is not there or if there are no large employers in their region to attract apprentices? In the economy debate that we had last week, I pointed out that more than 1,000 jobs have been lost in Inverclyde. How will that help to eradicate child poverty?

In my closing speech, I will talk a little more about some of the public sector reform that was mentioned by Paul O’Kane and is documented by the Wise Group. There are some really interesting points in that, which we should be talking about. However, I do not think that we can fully eradicate child poverty in Scotland until we talk about the economic growth that is required to fund the tackling of it. That includes investing in new and emerging industries and markets, developing our workforce—I cannot stress that enough—as well as investing in digital, transport and infrastructure and, of course, building more houses, which is another point in my amendment. We absolutely need more affordable, safe, clean and warm houses in Scotland. It is an absolute shame to the Government that 10,000 people live in temporary accommodation in modern-day Scotland. That has to be a focus, but it is not in the motion either. It is for that reason that we will not support the Government’s motion. I urge members to support my amendment.

I move amendment S6M-17437.1, to insert at end:

“; notes that, whilst the Programme for Government 2025-26 contains plans and policies to eradicate child poverty, the Scottish Government has already missed the interim child poverty targets of less than 18% of children living in relative poverty and less than 14% living in absolute poverty by 2023-24; believes that action is also required on Scotland’s housing and planning systems in order to not only help the economy grow and encourage investment, but also to ensure that everyone has a safe, warm place to call home, particularly given that an estimated 10,360 children and their families are living in temporary accommodation in Scotland; understands that, whilst there are wider economic challenges both domestically and internationally, there remains concern that the work and reform that may be required to eradicate intergenerational poverty is not taking place at the necessary pace, as noted by The Wise Group, and is further concerned that, despite the actions announced in the Programme for Government 2025-26, these will not be enough to drive the economic growth required and the 2030 child poverty targets, of less than 10% of children living in relative poverty, will be missed.”