MORE than 150 charities, trade unions and campaign groups have rallied to support the Poverty Alliance’s call to put the fight against poverty “at the heart of Scottish government.”

Poverty Alliance acting director David Reilly has written to First Minister Humza Yousaf calling on him to live up to his earlier pledge to “eradicate poverty” when he presents his programme for government to parliament next month.

The programme — a Scottish parliamentary set-piece in which the First Minister sets out his government’s priorities for the year ahead — must include an increase in the Scottish Child Payment, relief for those in debt to public bodies such as councils and a minimum income guarantee, according to the alliance.

Further demands — drafted by a working group of Poverty Alliance member organisations — also includes ramping-up investment in social housing to cut homelessness and free bus travel to be expanded to under-25s, people in receipt of benefits, unpaid carers and asylum-seekers.

The letter challenges Mr Yousaf to live up to the promises he made earlier this year, when he pledged on X (formerly Twitter) “an open discussion on progressive taxation, how we target our resources better and making tough decisions so every penny we spend is helping us in our fight against poverty.”

The Poverty Alliance letter reads: “We urge you to seize the opportunity to put action to tackle poverty at the heart of the forthcoming programme for government.

“All of our organisations strongly welcome the development of key strategies designed to tackle poverty and inequality in Scotland.

“While this leadership is extremely important, this has not yet led to a meaningful reduction in overall poverty rates in Scotland.”

Backing the letter, Oxfam Scotland’s Jamie Livingstone also called for action on tax to help fund anti-poverty measures.

He said: “Now is the time to move beyond minor tax tweaks and kick-start long overdue tax reform — both nationally and locally — to invest in critical national priorities.

“The First Minister has acknowledged that Scotland is a wealthy country, but that this wealth is not distributed evenly. He must now act to change that.”

Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “The First Minister has made it clear that tackling poverty is a moral, social and economic imperative and it will continue to be a central mission for this government.”