Scottish secretary Ian Murray outlines the new UK Government’s pledges to charities

Scotland’s voluntary sector is an essential part of our communities and our country, delivering key services, leading public debate and offering vital insights into people’s experiences.

In my time as a constituency MP my work with local charities often led to stories of heartbreak and hope. 

Heartbreak as families made impossible spending choices because the economy doesn’t work for them, disabled people having to choose between heating their homes and charging essential medical equipment or people having no security of where their income comes from because of insecure, low paid work. 

But also a sense of hope because so many of these charities are delivered by neighbours helping. It’s that sense of community in voluntary organisations all across Scotland that stands as a reminder every single day of what can be achieved when people work together with a common purpose to deliver change for people. 

I believe this government can work in partnership with the sector to deliver generational change in key areas such as work, energy and poverty. 

On work, our new deal for working people will deliver the biggest transformation in workers rights in a generation. It will raise the minimum wage, ban exploitative zero hours contracts and give people more rights and security at work. 

Meanwhile GB Energy, a publicly owned energy company based in Scotland, will help create jobs, bring benefits to bill payers and deliver energy security for our country. 

These are crucial first steps towards building an economy that works for working people, and lifts more people out of poverty. 

Because lifting people out of poverty is what Labour governments do – we did it before and we’ll do it again.  

This will be powered by a ministerial taskforce to drive cross-government action on child poverty. This work will happen at the heart of government, through a new specialist Child Poverty Unit in the Cabinet Office, bringing together officials with external experts, leaving no stone unturned in Labour’s mission to improve children’s lives. 

I know on social security Scotland’s third sector is impatient for change. The reality is the public finances have been left in such a mess that we can’t do everything we would hope to do right away, and we simply won’t make promises we can’t keep. Every charity trustee knows the importance of reserves. The Tories spent the Treasury reserves for the year three times over by July. 

It’s in that context we face incredibly difficult decisions on spending.

Decisions we don’t want to make or think we would have to make, but need to make to get the finances under control. We are committed to reviewing Universal Credit so that it makes work pay and tackles poverty. The other crucial area is resetting the relationship between Scotland’s two governments. For too long Scots were fed up with the UK and Scottish Governments fighting each other rather than fighting for them, and I know the voluntary sector felt this antagonistic relationship was a barrier to them delivering better outcomes. 

That needs to change, and I believe it is changing for the better even in the early days of this government. 

But on top of these policy priorities is a cultural shift in the Scotland Office. I want to be the sector's window to Whitehall. For many Scottish charities knowing how to navigate the UK Government can be intimidating. Trying to find the right person in the right department working on the right policy can feel impossible. Our department can support you through that. We’re also here to listen and engage with you, not just in London but at our Edinburgh HQ too. 

We want to host your receptions and listen to your stories so we can celebrate your achievements and help you strive for change. We achieve so much more when we work together than we ever could when we stand apart, so I would encourage the sector to engage with us, tell us where we’re getting it wrong and help steer us in the direction where you think we can get it right.

If we do that together, we could hear more stories of hope, and fewer stories of heartbreak. 

Ian Murray is secretary of state for Scotland.