SCOTLAND should adopt a high tax, high spend Scandinavian-style society to drive down scandalous levels of inequality, senior Holyrood politicians have been told.

A panel of party representatives at a Church of Scotland hustings event was last night implored to implement radical solutions after hearing from young people who had been let down by the education system and working parents struggling to make ends meet.

After hearing the stories, audience member Hugh Kerr said: "All of the young people really sum up the problems of poverty and inequality. I lived in Denmark for a number of years and I can say there is no need for Scotland to be the way it is today. It can be different.

"In Denmark there is five per cent poverty, going to 25 per cent in Scotland. There is free higher education with student support, good quality public services, and it all comes through progressive taxation, at local level and national level."

He added: "Agitate to change Scotland to the kind of country we know it can be, more like Scandinavia and less like London."

Later in the event, Iain Gray, the former Scottish Labour deputy leader, said Holyrood politicians "should be ashamed" of poverty levels in the country, and that "some of those who have a bit more should pay extra". He said his party was willing to upset people by imposing higher taxes.

Patrick Harvie, the co-convenor of the Scottish Greens, called for a widespread reappraisal of the type of country Scotland is.

He said: "I don't think we should be the country that we are today. In many ways we have become a more progressive society but we do still tolerate an unacceptable and unnecessary level of poverty and inequality, which are the result of distinct political and economic choices. If we want get a different result, we need to make different political and economic choices. If we don't, we will continue to let down generation after generation."

John Swinney, the deputy First Minister, defended his plan to keep income tax rates the same as they are currently, saying it had been reinforced by Blair Green, a father of two who had struggled to pay down debt after a serious injury and fears a collapse of the Scottish steel industry could threaten his job as a lorry driver.

Mr Swinney said: "I had people like Blair in mind when I took my decisions, because I can't listen to Blair's story and believe that it is appropriate to increase the basic rate of income tax due to the pressure it will put on people like Blair, who set out exactly the kind of financial difficulties members of the public are wrestling with."