LABOUR has called for fresh initiatives to tackle poverty in Scotland after it was revealed that one child in six lives in a family that cannot afford leisure activities.

Analysis of Scottish government statistics shows that as many as 170,000 children are unable to take part in hobbies and other extracurricular activities because of the associated costs.

It means that about 17 per cent of children live in families with limited resources.

Scottish Labour says that children are being left without even the “basic necessities” as a result of poverty.

David Stewart, the party’s spokesman for the eradication of poverty and social inequality, said: “These statistics highlight the social cost of inequality and child poverty in Scotland.

“Child poverty is continuing to rise in Scotland on the SNP’s watch.

“It is high time the Scottish government used the powers at their disposal to tackle the rise in child poverty such as investing in housing, implementing rent controls and mitigating the most harmful aspects of universal credit.”

A Scottish government spokesman said: “Scotland is the only part of the UK to set statutory targets for reducing child poverty and our plan outlines the range of actions we are taking in areas such as employment, social security and housing to lift low income households out of poverty.

“In 2018-19, we invested over £1.4 billion in targeted support for low-income households.

“We are doing this in the face of continued UK government welfare cuts which will see £3.7bn reduction in annual spending on social security for Scotland in 2020-21.”