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The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 set targets to cut child poverty to 18% by 2024/25 and 10% by 2030/31. Earlier this month, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation warned that these targets were set to be missed by a "large margin". Child poverty in Scotland is lower than any other part of the UK and the only poverty rate which is falling, but the Scottish government missed its statutory interim target to reduce the rate below 18% by last year, with the figure left at 23%. Before the march, First Minister John Swinney offered his "best wishes" to those taking part. He added: "Of course those marching today are right that too many people are living in poverty and too many people - many of them in work - are struggling to make ends meet. "In a country as rich as Scotland, that is simply not acceptable to me." A UK government spokesperson said ministers are "determined to bring down poverty and have implemented measures such as increasing the national minimum wage and introducing universal credit changes." A strategy to tackle child poverty will be published later this year.
