Michael’s on the path of tackling child poverty - Ian Murray

In Michael Marra’s first few days as the new leader of Scottish Labour, he has secured cross-party support to get the Scottish Parliament to commit to urgent action on child poverty.

It’s quite the first week for the new leader and it could not be more important, with too many children across Scotland still afflicted by the scourge of poverty.

I’ve known Michael a long time. He’s a deep thinker with serious ideas and he’s passionate about creating jobs and opportunities, particularly for young people. He’s also a proud Dundonian and a fervent supporter of Dundee United - but we shouldn't hold that against him.

Before entering politics he worked for Oxfam and founded a charity tackling child poverty in Dundee. That background matters and is why his first priority as leader has been to get much-needed action on this most urgent of issues.

It is the right time to be raising it. Over the summer, the Scottish Government announced it would be ‘reviewing’ its child poverty targets amid warnings that the current legal targets are likely to be missed - they've never been met.

Legally-binding targets unanimously agreed by the Scottish Parliament in 2017 state that relative child poverty should be below 10 per cent by 2030-31. However, organisations such as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the IFS have warned that the targets are likely to be missed if current trends continue.

Behind the statistics are cold homes and missed meals, futures robbed and lives unfulfilled. Hundreds of thousands of children are being let down.

But on Tuesday, MSPs backed a Scottish Labour amendment to recommit to those legally-binding targets, recognise that child poverty is a national issue and agree that immediate action is needed.

Of course, setting targets and recognising that an issue is important is one thing - real, tangible action and results are quite another. That’s why Scottish Labour are now calling for a cross-party commission to agree and enact a set of measures that will meet the 2030 targets.

On such an important issue, there is no excuse for different parties not to work together. As Andy Burnham says, we need more problem solving and less point scoring.

It is a cause that Scottish Labour MPs have already been working on at Westminster. In April of this year, we abolished the two-child limit on universal credit, a decision which is projected to lift half a million children out of poverty by the end of this Parliament.

I was proud to vote for it. It is set to benefit over 1000 children right here in Edinburgh South. The Conservatives and Reform have both pledged to reinstate the cap, a clear sign of how important they consider this issue to be.

In Michael Marra we have someone who is willing to put political differences aside and work with other parties to resolve the most pressing issues facing Scotland. That is something we can all surely get behind.

For the sake of children living in poverty in Scotland, we must hope the other party leaders in Holyrood are willing to do the same.