THE recommendations of the Scottish Government’s poverty advisor must be implemented Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said.
Naomi Eisentstadt issued her report and 15 recommendations earlier this year with the Government yet to respond.
Ms Dugdale said a Labour government would agree in full with the advisor and would put all the measures in place.
She said one of the recommendations was to be bolder on local tax reform which Labour said it was doing with scrapping the council tax.
Ms Dugdale said unless the Scottish Government used tax powers available to it the poorest would suffer the most.
On a visit to a credit union in Paisley, she said: “We’ll bring forward an Anti-Poverty Bill in our first programme for government and we will use the powers of the Parliament to reverse George Osborne’s tax cut for the top 1%.
“We cannot ask the poorest families in Scotland to continue to bear the burden of these cuts. The SNP budget cut hundreds of millions of pounds from schools and local services – if you are serious about tackling child poverty you can’t cut the budget for Scotland’s schools.”
The Labour leader said the SNP was allowing the rich to dictate tax policy.
She said: “The SNP are too scared to upset the richest to protect the rest of us. The poorest will lose the most from the cuts to come.”
Meanwhile Nicola Sturgeon was in Maryhill visiting Home Start, a group for parents and children, where she promoted plan for extra support for new parents.
She said the plan for a new Early Years and Maternity Grant of £600 at birth and another £250 when a child starts nursery and when it goes to school with £300 at birth for any subsequent children.
Ms Sturgeon said it was worth £1900 for a family with two children
She said: “Supporting our youngest children and making sure every child gets the best possible start in life is a central responsibility of any government.
“Our new Early Years and Maternity grant will help new mums when they are expecting and support young children in their earliest years of life.”
The SNP leader also outlined an extension of the free school meals for children who receive 30 hours a week of free nursery care.
She said families would also benefit from SNP changes to council tax.
She added: “Our Council Tax reforms protect those in smaller houses and will see bills reduced by an average of £173 for 77,000 low income families with children.”
She rejected Labour’s criticism over tax, adding: “There is a stark contrast between our support for young families, and Labour’s attempts to increase the taxes on some of the hardest-pressed households in our society.”
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