The Scottish Government has been urged to guarantee that no money for child poverty will be used to fill a £2.1billion budget black hole. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said cash earmarked for the most vulnerable must not be part of any “bail out” by Holyrood Ministers.
As revealed by the Record yesterday, leaked documents show that the SNP/Green Government is struggling to balance the budget this year due to spiralling spending costs. The size of the black hole could reach £2.1billion, with around £700million of the sum estimated to be for public sector pay rises.
Opposition politicians were shocked when civil servants suggested cuts could be made to programmes for vulnerable children. One idea was to stop or delay a planned £5-a-week increase to the Scottish Child Payment, a vital benefit for low-income families.
