New Scottish Labour leader presses Swinney to set up commission on child poverty

New Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra is calling on the country’s First Minister to set up a special commission to get Scotland “back on track” and meet its child poverty targets.

Legislation passed by Holyrood commits the Government to reducing the number of youngsters living in poverty to less than 10% by 2030-31.

Mr Marra called for action from all parties as he warned that, as it stands, Scotland is “going to miss those targets by a mile”.

In his first act after becoming Scottish Labour’s new leader on Saturday, he wrote to John Swinney and the leaders of the other parties at Holyrood calling for a new commission to be established.

This body would then be tasked with drawing up a set of proposals that could brought in in time for the 2030 target.

Mr Marra – who worked on child poverty projects for Oxfam before entering Holyrood – told the First Minister: “I am uninterested in pointing fingers when we should be acting to meet our responsibilities. We should instead spend our time working out how we are going to get back on track.

“The alternative is breaking the law and breaking our promise to these children, and to Scotland’s future.”

Figures published this year, covering the period 2022 to 2025, showed more than a fifth (21%) of children in Scotland were living in poverty.

That rate is lower than the 27% recorded for the UK as a whole in 2024-25 – with Mr Marra accepting “good progress on this vital agenda” has been made by the Scottish Government.

He stressed the current level of child poverty north of the border was still “close to double” the 2030 target, with just more than three years to go for it to be met.

Appealing to the First Minister and other party leaders, Mr Marra said: “We have a little over three years left.

John Swinney said that ‘Scotland stands with the people of the United States and communities around the world in remembering those who lost their lives’ in the attack a quarter of a century ago. (Jane Barlow/PA)

“So, I am today proposing that we establish a cross-party commission to agree a set of proposals that Holyrood can pass in law or enact in policy before 2030.”

He added: “In politics three years can feel like a short time. In the life of a child, it is enormous.

“We cannot write off another generation while we argue about who is to blame.”

He cited the example of the Smith Commission – set up in the aftermath of the 2014 independence referendum – which agreed new powers for Holyrood, including over income tax and welfare.

Mr Marra said that body had “agreed and enacted a set of very substantial and far-reaching proposals at pace”.

On child poverty, he said “if politicians can gather round a table … we can agree a set of proposals that lifts Scotland’s children out of poverty”.

In response, First Minister John Swinney said the Scottish Government is committed to eradicating child poverty and has set out “detailed plans to achieve this aim”.

“I am always open to additional ideas and I welcome Mr Marra’s commitment to work together on this, which we discussed by telephone today. I am keen to take these discussions forward including through the normal Budget process,” Mr Swinney said.

“A great deal of progress has been made, such as the game-changing Scottish Child Payment, which is providing unparalleled financial support to the families of over 320,000 children. We are also delivering a national breakfast club offer and investing over £40 million to help improve access to transport and skills for parents, with our policies combining to keep 100,000 children out of relative poverty this year.”

The First Minister added: “There are also many aspects of UK Government policy, such as the freeze to local housing allowance and the ongoing commitment to the benefit cap, that are deepening poverty and driving homelessness. We need to work together to change these policies too.”