Anas Sarwar has piled pressure on the Scottish Government’s decision to give a £150 cost of living award to well-off households.
The Scottish Labour leader said the policy copied the Tory approach at Westminster and claimed the payment would be spread out over ten months.
Nicola Sturgeon’ s Government responded to rising energy bills by announcing a £150 rebate to every household on council tax reduction, as well as to every household living in properties in bands A-D.
However, the latter decision has been criticised as wealthy people who live in these properties will also receive the money.
If the full £290m had been targeted on low-income households on CTR, a £600 rebate could have been offered.
The Poverty Alliance, the Child Poverty Action Group and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation all criticised the approach.
At Holyrood, Sarwar raised the policy with Sturgeon: “The SNP's flagship cost of living policy is to copy the Tory policy and provide £150 through a council tax rebate, a policy that the Poverty Alliance has called misguided, a missed opportunity and deeply disappointing.
“And now we learn that not a single person in Scotland will receive £150 in April. Instead almost every council will have to split this over 10 months. That means the Scottish Government's flagship cost of living policy is worth just £15 for the next 10 months.
“At the same time [consumer group] Which have said this morning that Scottish families will be spending an extra £84 a month on food and fuel.
“How can you possibly believe this is good enough, First Minister?”
She replied: “In terms of the £150 payment, and the finance secretary has set this out very clearly, because of the limited powers and limited control over the data around this that we have, we've done it in a way that gets help to people as quickly as possible, rather than it taking months and months and months.
“Of course where we hold the power we are doing so much more. We are doubling the Scottish Child Payment, for example, helping lowest income families with children.
"We, unlike the government south of the border, have protected the council tax reduction scheme.
Sarwar said: “The cost of living crisis is right now. There isn't an independence answer, or a constitutional answer to this question. People's bills are going up, whether they voted yes or no.
He added: “What the First Minister says on £150 is simply not true. They could have used that more progressively, as the Poverty Alliance has said.”
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