The UK Government’s welfare reform agenda has similar or even greater support in Scotland than in the South of England, according to the head of a housing charity.
People in Scotland should not “delude” themselves into thinking their general attitude to benefit reforms is different from the rest of the UK, Shelter Scotland director Graeme Brown said.
He was speaking during an End Child Poverty Coalition seminar on Scottish independence in Edinburgh, which featured a speech by Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Mr Brown said: “We shouldn’t delude ourselves.
“Although we might all disagree with (UK welfare reform minister) Lord Freud, the reason the Government can continue with its program is because it has public support.
“The Social Attitudes Survey demonstrates that there is public support and a hardening of attitudes against welfare recipients and a strengthening of the poor law mentality.
“I think we shouldn’t also delude ourselves that the attitudes in Scotland in the British Social Attitudes survey show parallel or more intense attitudes compared with London and the South East.
“So the attitudes towards welfare recipients in Scotland are by and large the same as those that exist outside Scotland.”