Scotland would work towards scrapping Universal Credit from 'day one' of independence

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Scotland would work to remove the "worst excesses" of the Universal Credit system from "day one" of independence, an SNP minister has pledged.Shirley-Anne Somerville, the Social Security Secretary, insisted that immediate reforms such as scrapping the two-child cap on benefits would make an "enormous difference" to ordinary families.Launching the Scottish Government's latest discussion paper on independence, the Dunfermline MSP said she also wanted to also remove the bedroom tax and young parent penalty previously introduced by the UK Government.Holyrood currently holds some powers over welfare - which it administers via the Social Security Scotland agency - but control of Universal Credit is reserved to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).Somerville was unable to offer a definite timescale on how long it would take for an independent Scotland to assume full responsibility for all benefits.Speaking on a visit to the Pearce Institute in Govan, she said reforms would be divided between short-term and longer-term commitments."The aspects around Universal Credit and scrapping it, I think, come in two stages," she said."It's what you do on day one, and there are changes you can make to the Universal Credit system, scrapping the rape clause, scrapping the benefit cap, etc."Those can be done in the early years and would make an enormous difference.

Nine per cent of children are impacted by the two child limit."Those things could be alleviated under the current system of Universal Credit. "In the longer term, aspects like a Minimum Income Guarantee could come in - that's where you're doing things very differently."But you don't need a review, like UK Labour are saying, to know that the rape clause is bad, and that parts of