1 in 4 Scots kids lives in poverty

CAMPAIGN groups have hit out over damning new figures showing one in four Scots children are still languishing in poverty.

- PAUL HUTCHEON

Child poverty levels remain at the same level as when the SNP swept to power in 2007.

Experts now fear Holyrood's tough anti-poverty targets will be missed.

John Dickie, director of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland said: "In a rich country these scandalous levels of child poverty are utterly unacceptable and a stark reminder how vital it is that the Scottish Government ratchets up its focus on child poverty.

"The First Minister really can't rely on the current policy package to make the progress needed to meet legally binding child poverty targets."

Humza Yousaf has cited cutting child poverty as his top priority and MSPs have put tough targets into law.

But the latest statistics show the huge challenges facing politicians at Westminster and Holyrood in making progress.

Twenty four per cent of children 240,000 were estimated to be in relative poverty between 2020-23. It was also 24 per cent under Alex Salmond in 2007.

The interim target, set in law, is to have fewer than 18 per cent of children living in families in relative poverty in 2023-24, falling to less than 10 per cent by 2030.