Keith Brown MSP, Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Clackmannanshire & Dunblane constituency, has welcomed the measures laid out by the First Minister Humza Yousaf MSP in his first Programme for Government, presented to the Scottish Parliament this afternoon.

Keith said:

“Increasing the pay of social care workers has been an aspiration of the Scottish Government for some time and it was good to hear the FM give a firm commitment in today’s Programme for Government to pay social care workers in a direct care role at least £12 an hour.

“With a pledge to continuing to work with Health Boards to reduce waiting lists and protect planned care, I was particularly pleased to hear specific reference to the next National Treatment Centre in Forth Valley.

“More broadly, this Programme for Government will build stronger communities, improve social justice, reduce inequalities, including in health and social care, and tackle child poverty.  A package of measures which Humza, rightly, described as ‘unashamedly anti-poverty’.

“What a clear contrast to those policies being imposed on us from Westminster that are creating the Cost of the Union Crisis impacting so many of my constituents lives today.  The two-child benefit cap – which Labour have said they would keep – inflicts hardship on families on the lowest incomes.

The UK’s two-child limit has removed over £340 million from families in Scotland since 2017, whereas the Scottish Government’s policies have meant that 90,000 fewer children will live in relative and absolute poverty in 2023.

“With £700 million spent by the Scottish Government in countering the impact of UK Government welfare cuts in the last five years alone, just think how much more we could do without Westminster tying one hand behind our back!”