VICTORY FOR KIDS

FM vows to use the freed-up cash to wipe out child poverty | Sarwar hails Reeves and says Budget 'rooted in Labour values'.

- CHRIS McCALL

JOHN Swinney has pledged to use Scotland's extra Budget cash to reduce child poverty and insisted he pressured the UK Government to drop the cap on child benefit:

The First Minister had previously committed to mitigating the impact of the two-child limit for families north of the border if Westminster failed to scrap the policy.

But Rachel Reeves’ decision to finally end the hated policy UK-wide next year frees up an estimated £120million for SNP ministers ahead of the Scottish Budget in January.

The UK Chancellor said her spending announcements will also send an extra £820million to Holyrood coffers.

Speaking as he visited Dublin yesterday, First Minister Swinney tried to take the credit for the policy change.

He said: “From what I've been able to deduce so far - and I stress I'm still consuming the details — is that the United Kingdom Government proposes to lift the two-child cap with effect from April 1, 2026.

“The Scottish Government was taking forward proposals to do exactly the same from March 1, 2026.

“So what essentially this means is that the UK Government will be implementing a policy that Scotland was planning to implement already, and that will then free up resources within the Scottish Government's block grant to be used for other purposes.