South Scotland Labour MSP has described poverty figures for Dumfries and Galloway, released by the End Child Poverty Coalition as a scandal.

The figures released by the End Child Poverty Coalition show that after housing costs 8,108 children in Dumfries and Galloway were living in poverty. This means 27% of children in Dumfries and Galloway are living in poverty. A 3% increase when the same study was carried out in 2016/17.

Colin Smyth said, “It is nothing short of a scandal that over 8,000 children in our region are growing up in poverty, with that figure on the rise. The End Child Poverty Coalition has highlighted that policy decisions over welfare, schools, health services and the cuts to the public sector are pushing families across Dumfries and Galloway into poverty.

Both the UK and Scottish Governments need to wake up and take meaningful action to tackle poverty and reverse the rise in child poverty in Dumfries and Galloway. That means properly funding our local services such as schools and hospitals, scrapping the two child cap on benefits and raising child benefit by £5 a week.”

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