FIRST MINISTER John Swinney cannot guarantee child poverty will continue to fall, blaming the actions of the UK Labour government.

The SNP leader’s comments come at the end of a Challenge Poverty Week which began with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Scotland warning that his government was on course to miss its statutory target to cut child poverty to 10 per cent by 2030-31 by a “large margin.”

Though still above the interim target of 18 per cent, child poverty has fallen to 23 per cent this year.

But speaking ahead of his party’s annual conference in Aberdeen, Mr Swinney warned progress could be stalled further, stating: “Our genuine, focused measures to reduce child poverty — and we’ve obviously demonstrated that we can be successful in that respect — against a prevailing trend moving in the opposite direction stands to be undermined by the actions of the UK government.

“We’ll give it our all, but I have to take account of the fact that there might well be a prevailing direction that can be a real challenge as a consequence.”

The UK government has been contacted for comment.