Child poverty has increased higher in Glasgow than anywhere else in Scotland according to a new report.

The city has seen a rise in children living in poverty of more than five and a half thousand children in the last four years.

The research by Loughborough University for the End Child Poverty campaign shoes there are now 31,823 children in Glasgow living in a household whose income is below 60% of the average.

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It is up from 26,146 four years ago.

The 4.8% increase to 31.8% of children now living in poverty in Glasgow is the highest in Scotland where the national increase was from 22% to 24%.

Six of the city’s seven Westminster constituencies are the highest in Scotland at30% or above.

The highest is Glasgow central where 41% of children are in poverty.

Other areas are Glasgow North East 33.4%,  Glasgow South West 31.8%, Glasgow North 31.2%, Glasgow East 30.6%, Glasgow  South 30.8% and Glasgow North West at 29%.

However, it is significantly lower than many parts of England and even Glasgow Central is not in the top 20 of UK constituencies ranging from Bethnal Green and Bow in London where 60% are in poverty to Manchester Gorton where the rate is 47.6%

John Dickie of Child Poverty action Group, on behalf of End Child Poverty said: “The Prime Minister must urgently face up to the true extent of child poverty across the UK rather than resorting to his own inaccurate statistics. An ambitious plan to put this shameful situation right would be transformational for millions of children in Scotland and across the UK. As a matter of urgency, we are calling on the Chancellor not to go ahead with planned cuts to Universal Credit which would see families lose out on £1000 a year. Given today’s data, this cut is unconscionable."

Mr Dickie also called for more action from government in Scotland.

He said: “Here in Scotland the Holyrood government’s child poverty delivery plan and prioritisation of the new Scottish child payment are hugely welcome. But these new figures highlight the importance of keeping housing costs affordable, the importance of reviewing the value of the Scottish child payment and the urgent need to use existing payment mechanisms, like local authority school clothing grants, to provide extra financial support to families right now.”