By Rab Bruce’s Spider

The Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health is calling on the next Scottish Government to do more to alleviate child poverty. It’s an interesting choice of words, as if there is some doubt about which Party will be in power after next year’s Holyrood election, when the only real doubt is whether the SNP will form a majority or minority Government.

But that’s not really important. What is more important is how this news was presented on Radio Scotland this morning.

Of course, nobody apart from the Tories wants to see any children living in poverty. One child in that situation is one too many and, to credit the Paediatricians, at least they came up with some suggestions instead of simply criticising. However, while a couple of the suggestions linked to the provision of healthcare were eminently sensible, they did gloss over the fact that the amount the Scottish Government receives in pocket money from Westminster is steadily reducing. There was also a rather odd assertion that the Scottish Government should impose a minimum price on alcohol in order to improve overall health rates. Um, did I miss something? It didn’t seem to occur either to the paediatrician making the statement or the BBC interviewer that the Scottish Government has been attempting to do this for the past couple of years but has been blocked by corporate interests within the drinks industry.

However, these are minor gripes because, while the Scottish Government should certainly be urged to prioritise the issue of child poverty, the largest problem of all, again ignored by the BBC interviewer, is that the greatest cause of poverty is lack of a decent income, either due to lack of employment or insufficient social security assistance, nowadays known as Welfare Benefits, and both of these matters are under the control of Westminster.

Whatever you may think of the current Labour Party, it is undeniable that rates of child poverty decreased under the previous Labour UK Government but have steadily increased under the Tories and are set to increase further unless you accept the redefining of poverty which the Tories have pushed through. Poverty hits areas where there is little employment and where social security payments are insufficient to provide even a basic level of subsistence. Everything else, the smoking, alcohol and drugs issues, are predominantly symptoms of the problem, not the causes.

So, while we must all hope that the Scottish Government can do something and puts some measures in place, let’s not kid ourselves by pointing the finger at Holyrood for not doing enough. The BBC may like to blame the SNP for all society’s ills but the fundamental problem lies with Westminster policies and no amount of tinkering around the edges with the limited job creation and welfare powers Holyrood might eventually be granted is going to make much of a difference.