Welfare

As an amendment to motion S4M-10777 in the name of Nicola Sturgeon (Welfare), leave out from "UK Government’s welfare policies" to end and insert "the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition's policies on women, children, disabled people and communities across Scotland; notes Scottish Labour’s record in lifting 200,000 children out of poverty, halving pensioner poverty and leading the parliamentary debate in support of those campaigning to fully mitigate the so-called bedroom tax in Scotland; recognises that this was achieved by using the existing powers of the Parliament and that eradicating poverty requires political will rather than constitutional change; believes that the Scottish Government’s plans for welfare in an independent Scotland lack detail and are uncosted; understands that the Institute for Fiscal Studies noted that there will be a £6 billion deficit in the first parliamentary session following independence, leading to a cut in public services such as schools and hospitals, and therefore believes that those who are poorest will be hardest hit and that the best way of helping people out of poverty is with the return of a Labour government in 2015."