Labour pledges cash for nurseries to address poverty gap
Nurseries would get extra cash to close the gap between rich and poor youngsters under a new police announced by Labour today.
Nurseries would get extra cash to close the gap between rich and poor youngsters under a new police announced by Labour today.
Scottish leader Kezia Dugdale has already pledged to set up a fair start fund, which would see school heads given an extra £1,000 a year to spend for every pupil that comes from a deprived background.
Nurseries will also benefit from additional resources, with Ms Dugdale revealing they would get £300 a year for every poorer youngster on their roll.
As with schools, nursery heads would also be given the power to decide how to spend the cash.
If Labour wins next year's Holyrood elections it plans to raise the top rate of income tax in Scotland to 50p, a move which the party says could raise £110 million a year.
Ms Dugdale and Labour opportunity spokesman Iain Gray will find out how these resources could be used to help the youngest Scots as they mark St Andrew's Day with a visit to a nursery.
Speaking ahead of that Ms Dugdale said: I am visiting a nursery to mark St Andrew's Day because my focus is on the future of our nation. My first priority is using the new powers coming to the Scottish Parliament to give young people a fair chance at life.
All the evidence makes clear that the gap between the richest and the rest exists even with children at nursery. Three and four-year-olds from poorer backgrounds are already having to play catch-up. How much money a toddler's parents have shouldn't decide whether they get a fair shot at life.
A Scottish Labour government would ask the richest few to pay a little bit more in tax so we can create a fair start fund to invest in the future. We need to create a Scotland where a young person's ability to get on in life is determined by their potential, work ethic and ambition - not by how much money their parents have.''
With powers over income tax and welfare due to come to Holyrood as a result of the Scotland Bill, the Labour leader said: We are living through a period of huge transformation in Scottish politics. The new powers that were agreed by the Smith Commission have passed the House of Commons and are just weeks away from becoming law.
Every politician in Scotland now needs to live up to the promise of those new powers. We all have a responsibility to say how we would transform the lives of young people in Scotland. Anybody who wants to play politics rather than talk about using the new powers is letting the young people of Scotland down.''