THOUSANDS of children in Inverclyde are living in poverty, staggering new official figures have revealed.

A shocking report commissioned by the UK government shows that last year, 2,597 local young people under the age of 16 were living in 'relative low income' families. 

The document defines the term 'relative low income' as those households which are receiving 50 per cent less income than average homes. 

The 2022 figure is a huge increase on the 1,710 young people recorded as living in poverty in Inverclyde in 2021, but less of a hike when compared with 2020 (2,212). 

Inverclyde MP Ronnie Cowan said the significant increase in child poverty in Inverclyde and in Scotland as a whole was 'not acceptable'. 

Mr Cowan said the statistics 'mirror' the issues people have been speaking about at the cost of living advice surgeries he and Inverclyde MSP Stuart McMillan have been running across Inverclyde. 

The MP fears that huge increases in the cost of living are affecting constituencies like Inverclyde disproportionately. 

He added: "Families are having to deal with unprecedented inflation where the value of the pound in the pocket has dropped like a stone.

"This means crippling hikes in the cost of necessities like food and petrol. 

"We also have sky-high energy bills and UK Tory government attacks on welfare through sanctions, and the removal of the £20 a week Universal Credit uplift. 

Mr Cowan said the Scottish Government has several different grants available for families through Social Security Scotland. 

He added: "The Scottish Government has done its best to alleviate the worse excesses of Tory indifference but it is doing so with one arm tied behind its back. 

"Until we have the means to properly tackle poverty in an independent Scotland, we have to ensure that the uptake of all Scottish government measures to help families is maximised."

Inverclyde MSP Stuart McMillan said the shocking child poverty figures make for 'stark reading' and serve as a reminder of the challenges faced. 

He highlighted measures taken by the Scottish Government to help families and said 3,765 children in Inverclyde are in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment. 

Mr McMillan also pointed to free school meals, baby boxes, and Best Start grants as schemes which are helping all families across Inverclyde. 

The MSP added: "Scotland’s child poverty targets are ambitious and that is why we are choosing to invest significantly in social security rather than relying on the funding we receive from Westminster. 

"The SNP government is committed to using the limited powers at its disposal to end child poverty, but this is in many ways an impossible task as the UK Government continues with its austerity agenda.

"Year upon year the Scottish Government spends millions mitigating the UK benefit cap. 

"That money could go much further if it was used to fund policies that will alleviate poverty rather than the sticking plaster they effectively are.

"Support for struggling families shouldn't have an arbitrary limit that pushes children into deeper poverty."