Labour must act to halt food bank poverty after 14 failed years of Tory rule

The number of families who have become dependent on food banks in Scotland is a damning indictment of 14 failed years of Conservative government.

As the Tories have taken a ­sledgehammer to the welfare state, ­charities and third sector organisations have increasingly had to step in to help those most in need.

Gordon Brown estimates that as many as 100,000 children in Scotland do not have a bed of their own to sleep on, while 300,000 are missing out on at least one meal per day.

Food banks themselves have boomed, with one in 2010 now at almost 200. The scale of child poverty in a nation with so much wealth is a scandal and one which the Record has repeatedly highlighted over the last 14 years.

As most welfare powers are reserved, we must look to an incoming Labour government to bring in reforms. The message on benefits from Keir Starmer and Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves has so far been cautious.

Labour has been urging stability to avoid a repeat of the calamities brought down on hard-working families by the deranged fiscal policies of Liz Truss.

There will be a need for the next government to prove it has a grip on the economy before it can begin widespread changes to our welfare system. But continuity won’t cut it. Too many families are struggling.

Brown is right to propose a UK-wide £1billion children’s fund financed by social investors and not reliant solely on the government. It’s an idea that must be considered by Labour ministers on taking office.

Get a grip of A&E

Scotland's NHS has been in crisis for too long – but new figures showing old people waiting for hours at A&E departments is a new low. It is diabolical that the country’s most vulnerable should have to wait more than 12 hours in emergency wards.

Medics tell you no one should wait more than four hours to be seen, treated and either admitted or discharged because beyond this there is a real risk of deterioration.

When the person waiting is elderly there should be an even greater sense of urgency. Evidence that almost 10,000 people aged 85 and over have waited in excess of 12 hours in the last year is a scandal.

Waiting time problems have been around for years and have been ­exacerbated by the Covid pandemic. But it is simply unacceptable to keep using Covid as an excuse for the failings. Health Secretary Neil Gray needs to get a grip of the chaos in our A&E departments.

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