Tackling Inequalities

As an amendment to motion S4M-12095 in the name of Alex Neil (Tackling Inequalities), leave out from "deplores" to end and insert "considers that even one child living in poverty is unacceptable; believes that the best way to tackle poverty is by creating more jobs and opportunity for everyone, regardless of background, and welcomes that, since May 2010, a job has been created each minute of every working day; notes that over 260,000 of the lowest paid workers in Scotland now pay no income tax and that over 2.2 million taxpayers in Scotland have had their taxes cut because of the increase to the personal allowance and supports the plans to increase the allowance to £12,500 in the next UK parliamentary term; welcomes the UK Government’s decision to increase the national minimum wage from October 2014 and its acceptance in full of the Low Pay Commission’s recommendations; recalls that the Scottish Government's white paper on independence did not support an increase in the personal allowance to £12,500, meaning that people on low incomes would have paid more tax and had less money to live on, but did propose a cut in corporation tax; further recalls that the white paper did not include an increase in social security spending of £2.5 billion, despite the Scottish Government and SNP members having called for spending increases; notes that the Expert Working Group on Welfare confirmed that, under the present UK administration, welfare spending is set to increase in Scotland by £2 billion by 2016-17; recalls that the Scottish Government’s Fiscal Commission Working Group advised it to match the trajectory of UK deficit reduction, even beyond the 2015 general election; notes in particular that motion S4M-05521, which was approved on 31 January 2013 with the support of Scottish ministers and SNP members, named the priority for social security spending as increasing child benefit for people earning more than £60,000 per year; notes evidence and expert opinion that suggests that investment in the first three years of a child’s life is critical for their future life chances; believes that investment in early years education and quality childcare can help to close the attainment gap as well as being a sound investment for economic and social wellbeing; welcomes the expansion of free childcare to 15% of two-year-olds in Scotland; believes that there should be a further expansion in free early years childcare to match the provision on offer in England, and considers that the best platform to achieve a strong economy and a fair society best able to tackle inequality and ensure opportunity for everyone is from an economy anchored in the centre ground, with spending and borrowing balanced to allow continued movement from economic rescue to recovery."