Carla McCormick, of The Poverty Alliance, believes the forthcoming Scottish Parliament election gives Scots the opportunity to shape a fairer more dignified society
While every election is exciting, the devolution of new powers to Scotland means that this year’s Scottish Parliament elections could be the most interesting yet. New powers over welfare and taxation are an opportunity for us to think about the kind of Scotland we want to live in, and more importantly how we achieve this.
While the package of powers coming to Scotland may not be as extensive, or as cohesive, as many of us would have liked they are still significant, and they must be used. As an organisation primarily interested in tackling poverty, the Poverty Alliance is principally concerned about how we use these new powers, alongside existing powers, to create a more socially just Scotland.
This will not be easy, and there are tough choices ahead for whoever makes up the next Scottish Government. The Poverty Alliance has produced an ambitious series of asks which looks at how we can use new powers to really make a difference to people living on low incomes.
Alongside our colleagues in the Scottish Campaign on Welfare Reform, we have called for child benefit to be topped up. If we are serious about tackling child poverty, then we have to put money into parents’ pockets.
However, we must go further than this and also top up the benefits of working age adults. Following years of welfare reform, it is clear that our social security system is no longer the safety net it was designed to be and this is particularly true for working age adults. Rather than lifting people out of poverty, low benefit rates are trapping many people in it.
The Scottish Parliament will also gain powers over the design and delivery of disability benefits. It is clear that there are fundamental flaws with the current system, particularly around how people are assessed.
We must ensure that when these powers come to Scotland that the assessment process is made fairer and has dignity and respect for the individual at its heart.
In recent weeks, we have seen Scottish Local Authorities making tough budget cuts, many of which will adversely affect people experiencing poverty.
To avoid this happening again in the future, the Poverty Alliance is calling on the next Scottish Government to create a new socio-economic impact duty.
These are only a few of our asks, and we believe that they should all form part of a new extensive and robust anti-poverty strategy for Scotland. Previous strategies have had limited success and with the devolution of new powers, and new opportunities, to the Scottish Parliament, now is the time to seriously think about how we end poverty in Scotland.
It is important that people directly experiencing poverty are at the heart of this process, and we would like to see Scottish Government should convene a Poverty Stakeholder Forum involving people in poverty and wider stakeholders, to oversee the ongoing development of anti-poverty policy.
Tackling poverty isn’t cheap and the next Scottish Government will have to use tax raising powers to pay for it. Progressive taxation is key to all of this, and if we are serious about creating a fairer Scotland then those who can pay more should pay more.
