1 in 5 island children growing up in poverty 23/10/14
About a fifth of children in the Western isles are living in poverty according to new figures.
The study by End Child Poverty campaign group says 19% of island youngsters are being brought up in homes struggling to make ends meet.
The body is is made up of over 150 organisations including children’s charities, child welfare organisations, social justice groups, faith groups and trade unions.
It highlights that high housing costs are pushing families into poverty and call for local and national housing policy to focus on keeping rents down.
In Scotland, 220,000 children are living in poverty and this could soon rise by another 100,000 warns the action group.
Spokesperson Neil Mathers said: “These figures reveal just how widely and deeply child poverty reaches into our communities. It’s important we look behind these figures at what is driving this level of poverty in our country.
“Politicians of all parties, at Westminster and Holyrood, need to act to tackle the root causes of poverty, including low pay and soaring housing and childcare costs. “There is nothing inevitable about this poverty. We must build on the good work that is happening in Scotland to support families.
Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said “This figure highlights the work that needs to be done to end child poverty here in the Western Isles and across the UK.”
She maintained: “The SNP failed to act quickly enough to mitigate the impact of the Tories bedroom tax in Scotland and did so only after vigorous campaigns and intervention from Scottish Labour.
“In addition the Scottish Welfare fund was underspent and likewise with the fuel poverty budget, at a time when 900,000 households are in fuel poverty, with some of the highest rates of fuel poverty occurring in the Highlands and Islands region.
“All because we have a Scottish Government focused on the politics of grievance rather than getting on with making a difference to people's lives.”
SNP spokesman MSP Jamie Hepburn said: “For too long poverty has been accepted as
an inevitability by Westminster -
He said the “race to the right between Labour and the Tories amounts to nothing less than a shameless and sustained attack on the poor.”