THE “bitterly disappointing” SNP-Green Scottish Budget will “at best stall progress on child poverty,” MSPs have been warned.

The stark message, outlining the “huge gap” between incomes and the cost of raising a family, came from campaigners at the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in a briefing to parliamentarians ahead of Holyrood’s final vote on the 2024-25 finance Bill.

The reports found that it costs £166,000 to raise a child to a “socially acceptable standard of living,” but there remains a 40 per cent shortfall in cash to reach that standard where parents are not in paid work.