SCOTTISH government ministers are being urged to keep a pledge to double the payment made to needy parents as soon as possible.

Think tank the Joseph Rowntree Foundation made the call at the same time as it urged the Westminster government to “do the right thing” and commit to keeping the £20 uplift to universal credit (UC).

UC payments were increased when the Covid-19 pandemic hit Britain, but Westminster now plans to reverse this measure at the end of September, a move already branded “indefensible” by the government in Edinburgh.