This article appears as part of the Unspun: Scottish Politics newsletter.

A few weeks on from the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government, the dust has begun to settle. And while we can draw positives, there remains a difficult question that isn’t going anywhere: does the action set out match the government’s claim that ending child poverty is Scotland’s defining mission?

The Programme for Government includes welcome commitments on childcare, Whole Family Support and social security, including a supplement for babies on the Scottish Child Payment. These are undoubtedly important measures that can and will make a difference to children and families. But they simply do not amount to the scale of action needed to meet the existing child poverty targets.

Across the five years of this parliament, the government says it will “go further, faster” to increase incomes and bring down costs. Yet there is no obvious policy breakthrough or package on the scale of the Scottish Child Payment – a measure which we know showed the impact that putting more money directly into the pockets of families can have.

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