Talking-up Scotland

(c) Getty

I’m not watching but no doubt the Scottish mainstream media are all over the latest poverty statistics increases. I wonder if they’ll remember just which government is to blame. Here are three quotes from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health in January 2017, to remind us how little the Scottish Government is responsible:

‘There is much that the Scottish Government is doing to reduce the impact of poverty and inequality and there is much in Scotland that can be celebrated and learned from.’

 ‘The devolution of welfare powers should not obscure the continuing role of that Westminster plays in determining benefit spending in Scotland.’

‘Welfare claimants in Scotland have lost large sums already, and are set to lose further large sums. The devolution of welfare powers will not in itself alter this stark reality.’

 http://www.rcpch.ac.uk/system/files/protected/page/SOCH-recommendations-Scotland.pdf

See more on this at:

BBC Un-Reporting Scotland witter on about poverty and inequality for a whole week but still fail to keep up-to-date with research which lays the blame where it lies, on Westminster

However, there is some fairly good news in today’s release from the Scottish Government:

‘New experimental statistics have been published today showing the proportion of people living in persistent poverty in Scotland between 2010 and 2015. We know that spending brief periods with a low income can be less damaging than living in poverty over a number of years. The persistent poverty figures show the number of individuals living in poverty for 3 or more of the last 4 years.’

I’ve extracted the comparative figures for you:

‘Scotland generally had lower persistent poverty rates when compared with England, Northern Ireland and Wales, especially after housing costs.

‘Before housing costs the Scottish persistent poverty rate for all individuals in 2010 – 2015 (8 per cent) was slightly lower than in England (9 per cent), Northern Ireland (11 per cent) and Wales (10 per cent).’

‘After housing costs the difference was greater with the Scottish persistent poverty rate (9 per cent) below that of England (12 per cent), Northern Ireland (12 per cent) and Wales (12 per cent).’

http://news.gov.scot/news/persistent-poverty-in-scotland-2010-2015

 I’m not saying this is anything much to be proud of but is it evidence that at least the Scottish Government is trying? What’s more, the Scottish Government was able to predict this two years ago:

‘Worst UK cuts to hit Scotland by 2016 – report: The worst of the UK’s austerity cuts have yet to hit Scotland and will be felt in the next two years, ­according to a report. Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned that the cuts will set the fight against poverty back a decade and hit the most vulnerable in society.’

http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/worst-uk-cuts-to-hit-scotland-by-2016-report-1-3367858