POVERTY can be “designed” out of Scotland’s economy if there is the political will to forge a fairer future, MSPs will hear tomorrow.

Leading a cross-party debate to mark Challenge Poverty Week, Labour MSP Elaine Smith will call on colleagues to back “significant interventions” to alleviate economic injustice.

“We must respond to the immediate problem, but we also need a fundamental shift in social policy to ensure the eradication of poverty and inequality,” Ms Smith, who is Labour’s front-bench spokeswoman on the eradication of poverty, is expected to say in the Holyrood chamber.