Both the SNP and Labour have called for a tougher approach to tackling poverty following the publication of Scottish Government figures which reveal the largest increase in poverty since 1999. According to official figures the number of Scots living in relative poverty has gone up by 110,000 (15%) in a single year between 2011/12 and 2012/13. This is the largest annual increase in relative poverty since the Scottish Parliament was established in 1999.

New information has also shown that over half a million people were classed as living in households in severe or extreme poverty. Over 22,000 children in Scotland relied on food banks in 2013/14 – with low incomes and benefit sanctions playing a major part in many referrals to food banks. As many as 43% of local people who sought help from food banks did so after their benefits were sanctioned according to a report from West Dunbartonshire Citizens Advice Bureaux.

The Labour party have backed a radical new five-point plan to eradicate the need for food banks in West Dunbartonshire with a £175 million Scottish Anti-Poverty Fund. The Labour MP and MSP said the plan would help hundreds of people in Dumbarton, Clydebank and the Vale of Leven who are forced to rely on food banks to feed their families. Their plan is to ban zero hour contracts, raise the minimum wage and tackle rising household costs by capping energy bills and banning rip off rent rises.

Gemma Doyle, MP for West Dunbartonshire, said: “In a rich country like ours it is an absolute scandal that some parents in Dumbarton, Clydebank and the Vale of Leven are forced to rely on the generosity and goodwill of local people to feed their children. It is no coincidence that the first food banks in the area were set up under the watch of David Cameron. Their very existence is a sign of the Tories’ complete failure to create a welfare system that treats people with respect and dignity.

“In just a few weeks’ time people in West Dunbartonshire and across Scotland will decide the outcome of the election. We can get rid of the Tories and elect a Labour Government which will protect vulnerable local people by scrapping the bedroom tax and abolishing targets for benefits sanctions.” Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, said:“Our five point plan will make food banks history in West Dunbartonshire.

“One of the most shocking results of five years of Tory rule is that even a job isn’t enough now to a guarantee of protection against poverty. Far too many working families in West Dunbartonshire are in real trouble if the boiler or the fridge break down. That is why the next Labour Government would drive up living standards by banning exploitative zero hours contracts, raising the minimum wage, freezing energy prices and banning rip off rent rises.”