Anas Sarwar has claimed Scotland cannot end poverty by simply paying higher benefits.
In his first big speech of 2025, the Scottish Labour leader tore into the SNP’s 18 years in power at Holyrood and accused the Nationalists of wrecking public services.
The Glasgow MSP today insisted that growing the economy and creating more well-paid jobs was essential if more Scots were to be lifted out of poverty.
Sarwar also distanced himself from his previous calls for the Scottish Child Payment (SCP) to be increased to £40 per week.
He insisted his party did support the benefit – which is not paid elsewhere in the UK – but would not say whether it should be increased above its current level of £27.15 per week.
“The frustration I’m expressing today, which many people across the country will feel, is we have this pretence in Scotland that somehow welfare is the only route out of poverty,” he said when asked by the Record.
“The harsh reality is we need a multi-spoke approach to end child poverty. Having higher and higher welfare payments – while taking resources out of our classrooms, taking resources out of mental health services, while taking resources out of housing – we risk undermining the very thing we are fighting for.”
The SCP was introduced by former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and is paid to each child in low-income families.
Anti-poverty campaigners have broadly welcomed its introduction but have repeatedly called for the weekly payments to be increased to £40.
An estimated 240,000 children currently live in poverty across Scotland. John Swinney has previously said it was his “first priority” as First Minister to reduce that number.
In his speech at the University of Glasgow, Sarwar said “poverty is not an inevitable fact of life. It is something that can be tackled and reduced”.
He added: “But to do so, we must properly understand what poverty is, what causes poverty and what prevents people from rising out of it.
“The fact is that poverty is caused by and maintained by issues across our society – from workplace practices to housing. From education to our health service.
“And it is the responsibility of this parliament and this government to tackle the root causes of poverty across all of these sectors. But this SNP government has failed to do so.”
Sarwar continued: “You can’t tackle poverty if people don’t have safe and secure homes. You can’t tackle poverty if children are not getting the opportunities they deserve.
“You can’t tackle poverty if people don’t get the healthcare they need regardless of background. You can’t tackle poverty if our communities are not safe places to live in.
“You can’t tackle poverty if there is not good, secure work available. But on every measure, the SNP is taking Scotland in the wrong direction.
“The SNP wants to pretend that one single benefit or payment has the answer. The uncomfortable fact is that we can’t end poverty with welfare alone.
“To end poverty we need to get our economy moving, our public services working and create more decent well paid jobs.”
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