Anti-poverty tsar says SNP/Green Budget not 'terribly exciting' and criticises council tax freeze

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The SNP/Green Government’s anti-poverty tsar has said Humza Yousaf’s first budget will not make a “huge impact” on cutting child poverty,Professor Stephen Sinclair said the tax and spending plans were not “terribly exciting” and Ministers need a “big leap forward” to meet poverty targets.He also called for the replacement of the council tax and urged politicians to raise more revenue from unearned income.Yousaf cited child poverty cuts as his top priority as First Minister, but the Budget passed by SNP and Green MSPs was widely panned by campaign groups.They were frustrated with the small rise in the Scottish Child Payment for low income families and hit out at a council tax freeze which helps the rich.A £196m cut to the affordable housing budget was also condemned.In an interview with the Record, Sinclair said the Budget was pushed through in the teeth of “difficult financial circumstances”, but added:“We would have hoped for something more.

We don't think it's a budget which is going to make a huge impact on reducing child poverty. On the other hand, it's certainly not going to make the situation any worse.”He said of the Budget in relation to the target of having fewer than 10pc of children living in families in relative poverty:“It's not going to make a significant advance and certainly greater efforts are going to be required up to 2030 to meet the targets."On the housing cuts, he said: “Housing is crucial to meeting the child poverty targets.

The Scottish Government have said that they have a commitment to build 110,000 houses. "It's going to be a very difficult push to make that target.

It's going to have to take a real significant expansion in the house building programme and we support that. So we don't think it