Most don’t believe Swinney and Burnham are working together on child poverty

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Despite both Downing Street and Bute House putting the reduction of child poverty at the heart of their respective rhetoric and political agendas, research carried out by the Diffley Partnership for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) suggested little public confidence there was any joint working.

The survey of 2,000 adults in Scotland found only a quarter believed Scottish and British governments are trying to work together to beat child poverty, while 55 per cent either disagreed or strongly disagreed.

The poll however suggested there was little doubt in the public’s minds over who carried responsibility for cutting poverty rates, with 63 per cent and 54 per cent regarding the Scottish government and British government as “highly responsible” respectively.

JRF senior policy adviser for Scotland Jack Evans said: “Both Andy Burnham and John Swinney have put lifting people’s living standards and fighting poverty at the heart of their ambitions, which is welcome, but too often the focus is on areas of disagreement rather than co-operation.”

He added: “The Prime Minister and the First Minister each have their own responsibilities to the people of Scotland, and will rightly be held to account on those, but there are also things that they can and should do together — and people expect them to do so.”

Scottish Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville acknowledged the importance of governments working together, but argued the “game-changing Scottish Child Payment” demonstrated “why we need more powers in Scotland, rather than seeing them hoarded by the UK government.”

She said: “The UK government must now take action in their Budget to cut bills and boost living standards. And if they will not, they should hand the powers over to a Scottish government that would.”

The British government insisted ministers will continue working with the Scottish government on the issue, adding: “We’re determined to turn the tide on poverty in Scotland and across the UK and we are making a difference.

“Household incomes are up 5 per cent in real terms, while our decision to remove the two-child limit will lift 450,000 children out of poverty in the final year of this parliament.”