Around £1 Billion is to be taken away from Scottish children through UK Government welfare cuts, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has claimed.
New analysis by the Scottish Government claims the welfare bill north of the border will be reduced by over £4.5 billion over a five-year period, of which £1 billion is estimated to relate directly to youngsters.
The Scotland Office said the research was “unofficial, crude and misleading”. Ms Sturgeon branded the welfare cuts an “utter disgrace” during her address to the SNP conference in Inverness.
She said: “Make no mistake, it will be hard-working people that will feel the pain. And disabled people too.
“Not the so-called scroungers and skivers portrayed by smug Mr Osborne. The clue, you see, is in the names of the benefits being cut working tax credit, disability allowance, child benefit.”
She added: “But do you know the most shameful thing of all? £1 billion of these cuts are to benefits that directly support children.
“That’s the equivalent to a cut of more than £1,000 for every child in Scotland under the age of 16.”
The Scottish Government analysis is based on UK Budget and Autumn Statement announcements and measured the effect using changes to individual benefits since 2010/11.
It shows a spending cut of £29 million in 2010/11, £302 million last year, £827 million this year, £1.5 billion next year and £2.1 billion in 2014/15.
The report says: “It is estimated that the 2014/15 welfare bill is expected to be reduced by around £2 billion in Scotland and by £21 billion in the UK as a result of the reforms by the coalition Government since 2010.
“However, taking the cumulative impact over the five years to 2014-15, the UK Government will have reduced the Scottish welfare bill by over £4.5 billion and by around £47 billion in the UK.”
A Scotland Office spokesman said: “These figures from the Scottish Government are unofficial, crude and misleading and should be subject to a good deal of scepticism.
“It also shows they cannot tell the difference between benefits and the payments made to families and children.
“The fact is that the UK spends around £20 billion on welfare and benefits in Scotland every year and the Scottish Government has yet to explain how it would sustain that level of funding if Scotland leaves the UK for good.
“The population share method they apply to benefit expenditure is also crude. Their own table shows that, using their method, Scotland is protected relative to its population share in over half of expenditure, including housing benefit and the state pension as part of the UK.
“Given the evidence of the recent leaked document which showed the stark difference between the Scottish Government’s thinking in public and private, people in Scotland would be forgiven for treating this figure with some suspicion.”