IN her car-crash interview where she attempted to defend the indefensible, Jackie Baillie asked why the Scottish Government did not act to counter the two-child cap on benefits. As well as overlooking the benefits it has introduced, she chose to ignore the fact, inconvenient for her, that it has used its power to counter the worst effects of the UK Government’s policies, eg by mitigating the bedroom tax and the benefits cap.
READ MORE: Jackie Baillie panned for 'woeful' BBC Scotland interview
She might also care to read the 2019 report written by the UN Rapporteur on Poverty, Philip Alston. In it, he praised the work of the Scottish Government, saying: “It has also used newly devolved powers to establish a promising social security system, guided by the principles of dignity and social security as a human right and co-designed with claimants on the basis of evidence.”
This is in contrast to Alston’s withering criticisms of the UK Government, about which he said: “The bottom line is that much of the glue that has held British society together since the Second World War has been deliberately removed and replaced with a harsh and uncaring ethos.” How accurate Alston is on several counts!
Gavin Brown
Linlithgow
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