MORE than half a million children could be lifted out of poverty if Westminster’s Labour government matched the Scottish child payment, the SNP has suggested.

Ahead of October’s Budget — Labour’s first in 15 years — the SNP has challenged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to boost the child element of universal credit by £26.70 per week, matching the Scottish government payment to Scotland’s lowest-income families.

House of Commons Library research suggests such a move could boost the incomes of more than 2.6 million of the poorest households by £1,390, lifting 563,000 children out of poverty.

That figure includes 479,000 children in England, 40,400 in Scotland and 27,000 in Wales and 16,700 in Northern Ireland.

SNP Work & Pensions spokeswoman Kirsty Blackman MP said: “It’s a scandal that so many children across the UK are living in poverty — and it’s unforgivable that the Labour government has made the political choice to push even more children into destitution by continuing damaging welfare cuts like the two-child benefit cap.

“It’s time for [Prime Minister] Keir Starmer to get serious about eradicating child poverty.

“The Labour government must take bold and urgent action at the UK Budget, including abolishing the two-child benefit cap immediately and matching the SNP government’s Scottish child payment UK-wide.

“The evidence is clear, doing so would lift more than half a million children out of poverty across the UK — including more than 40,000 children in communities across Scotland.

“Governments are defined by the choices they make.

“SNP government policies are lifting children out of poverty, but for every step Scotland takes forward, Westminster is dragging us back as draconian Labour Party austerity cuts push more children into poverty.

“It’s time for the Labour government to start delivering the change they promised — instead of copying the Tories and imposing even more cuts.”

A UK government spokesman responded: “No child should be in poverty, that’s why our new cross-government taskforce is developing an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty and give children in every part of the UK the best start in life.”

“Alongside this, we have committed to reviewing universal credit and we are delivering the New Deal for Working People to turn the minimum wage into a real living wage and make work pay.”