The SNP has and the Scottish Conservatives are at loggerheads over who is to blame as a charity said it had been handing out the equivalent of nearly one emergency food parcel ever seven minutes to Scots children during the pandemic.

Some 220,000 emergency food parcels have gone out at Scots food banks run by the Trussell Trust charity between April 2020 and March 2021 - a 63% rise on this time five years ago. That's a parcel every two-and-a-half minutes.

And the charity which said its figures are "horrifying" says that more than 77,000 of the parcels went to children. The Trussell Trust said is just the "tip of the iceberg".

The SNP said that the "shocking" food bank figures "lay bare the impact of Tory cuts" on Scotland.

READ MORE: Trussell Trust delivers one food bank parcel every seven minutes to Scots children

But the Scottish Conservatives accused the nationalists of "hypocrisy" saying they have delayed introducing their own benefits system.

Mew Scottish benefits due to be introduced last year were delayed due to the impact of coronavirus.

Due to the focus on “responding and recovering” from the COVID-19 outbreak, the Scottish Government announced its replacement for Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and the introduction of the Child Disability Payment will be delayed.

The UK Government has agreed to continue to deliver disability benefits to Scottish clients over a longer transition period.

Additionally, the £10 Scottish Child Payment, due to be introduced in the autumn was also be delayed. The Scottish Government will aim to start taking applications for this payment “by the end of 2020 with payments being made from 2021, subject to sufficient staff being in place”.

The Herald:

SNP candidate for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn, Bob Doris, said: “Food banks, including the one run by Trussell Trust in my constituency, are working incredibly hard to continue to feed people unable to afford even the basics - but they cannot continue to pick up the pieces left as a result of the Tory government’s cuts and gaps in support.

“Even before the pandemic hit, a worrying number of families across the UK were struggling to get by because of a decade of Tory austerity.

“The figures published today make for dire reading, and we must not forget that behind these statistics are families in desperate need of support.

“The SNP in Government has done its best to tackle poverty here by bringing in game-changing policies like the Scottish Child Payment, which we will double if re-elected, extending free school meals through the holidays, investing more than £1.96 billion in targeting support at low-income households last year, and mitigating the callous Tory bedroom tax.

"But whilst employment powers and the vast majority of welfare spending remains reserved to Westminster, Scotland will always be tackling poverty and hunger with one hand tied behind its back. We cannot continue to wait for the UK government - who dithered and delayed on extending free school meals and supporting low-income families through this pandemic - to act. Scotland’s future must be in Scotland’s hands - so we can build a better and fairer society.

“With the limited powers we have, we have already built a social security system based on fairness, dignity and respect and are promoting a Real Living Wage. We can continue that work with Both Votes SNP on May 6th. A vote for Labour or anyone else will only see the Tories continue with their brutal austerity cuts.”

But Scottish Conservatives' social security spokeswoman Rachael Hamilton said: “The SNP have delayed introducing their own benefits system for years. Their hypocrisy is galling.

“They would rather create a grievance and push for another referendum than focus on recovery and actually tackle the problems in our communities.

“It’s unacceptable that anyone in Scotland is going hungry and after 14 years of the SNP Government, they should be appalled by their complete inability to improve this situation.”