EXCLUSIVE: The Scottish Labour leader gave a commitment to meeting the 2030 anti-poverty targets.
Anas Sarwar has promised to lift over 100,000 Scots kids out of poverty if he becomes First Minister.
He said a Scottish Labour Government would hit legally binding targets to slash poverty levels by 2030.
The Glasgow MSP also insisted he can still win the Holyrood election despite being over twenty points behind the SNP in the opinion polls.
With just over three weeks to go, Sarwar is facing the biggest challenge of his political career in turning around a massive SNP lead.
But with around four in ten Scots still not sure how they will vote on May 7th, he believes it is all to play for.
In an interview with the Daily Record podcast Planet Holyrood, Sarwar said the Nationalists can be toppled.
“The people who decide this election are the people that vote in this election. Opinion polls are a snapshot of a sub-section of the population.
“People should vote for what they want to happen on May 7th and after 20 years of SNP government, I’m arguing we need change and give me five years to do things differently here in Scotland.”
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He also spoke of his commitment to hitting the tough statutory target set by Holyrood on combating child poverty.
Around 21% of kids are currently in poverty and the Government has a target of this figure falling to below 10% in four years.
Another 110,000 children need to be taken out of poverty for the target to be met and Sarwar has promised to do it.
“Our ambition is to meet our child poverty reduction target in the next Parliament. That would lift around 100,000 kids out of poverty. “
He added: “I am confident, but it’s hard work. It’s ambitious, but that’s what you should expect from your government in Scotland. And so I believe we can achieve that.”
He said his anti-poverty strategy is less about topping up benefits and more about tackling “structural” issues that stop people from working.
Sarwar said he will boost tax-free childcare for parents, introduce breakfast clubs in all primary schools, create 9,000 apprenticeships and give young people the skills they need.
He also said he will reduce school meal debt, help tenants save on rent and tackle the scandal of child homelessness.
Sarwar said of hitting the target: “I think for too long the SNP argument has been that the one route to lift kids out of poverty in this country is purely through welfare, or by setting up another public sector quango. That’s not what I fundamentally believe.
“I think the best route of lifting children out of poverty and giving our young people a chance is by giving them the adequate skills, giving them access to a well paid job.
“It is a programme that lifts people out of poverty.”
He added: “If you’re giving me the choice, do you give a young person a welfare payment, or do you give them a skill and a job? I will always choose [to] give them a skill and a job because that’s how you defeat structural property and lift families out of poverty and have social mobility.”
Sarwar’s wider approach is to back deliverable policies and go further, such as on cutting income tax, if the economy grows.
But the Scottish Labour leader has faced claims his manifesto is too cautious and does not present a bold alternative to the SNP.
He said: “It is an honest manifesto about our ambitions and of course we want to go even beyond our ambitions if we meet our growth targets. But I’ve deliberately taken an approach in this election campaign and in this manifesto. People have heard big promises from politicians that they haven’t delivered.
“I’m going to give the kids the teachers, the classroom assistants, the apprenticeships, the skills, the jobs they need, so we can confront the big challenges facing our country. So this is a manifesto that is about fixing the mess, getting the basics right in this country, but also building institutions that will last in the longer term.”
Sarwar knows he has a mountain to climb if he is to win, not only eating into the SNP’s lead but also winning back votes from the right wing Reform.
He said: “Reform have accepted they can’t win this election. You heard that from Nigel Farage directly yesterday. They never could win the election, but at least they’re now accepting they can’t win this election.
“All Reform can be is noise in this election and trying to divide us. So they don’t offer change, they can only stop change.
“The SNP can’t offer change because they’ve had 20 years. If they had a good idea, they would have implemented it by now.”
He added: “Am I pretending to you that I can deliver utopia in five years? No, I’m not. But can I promise you that you’ll have a First Minister that shares your ambition and your aspiration, that you will have a government that works as hard as you do, and that we will leave this country a better place than we found it? Absolutely.”
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