A LEADING charity has accused politicians of cowardice for failing to tackle soaring rates of extreme deprivation north of the border.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation said families were being “locked into poverty” by a “failing” social security system, with a lack of action by both Westminster and Holyrood keeping more than a million of Scotland’s people — including about 240,000 children — in poverty.

Associate director in Scotland Chris Birt said struggling people were “being short-changed by a lack of political courage.”

Citing a new report published by the foundation today, he insisted that “new consensus is needed to tackle stubborn rates of hardship.

“Far too many people experience daily struggles to get by and deserve better than platitudes about waiting for growth or tough decisions,” Mr Birt said.

“People all over Scotland have tougher lives than our wealthy nation should tolerate — it is high time that changed.”

The report points out that while the Scottish government will “almost certainly miss” its interim child poverty reduction targets, the Labour administration at Westminster retains most of the spending and social security powers in Scotland.

It is urged to reverse the “policy failings” of the previous Tory administration amid soaring levels of “very deep poverty” in Scotland.

People in very deep poverty are those earning below 40 per cent of the median income, a category that now includes 40 per cent of all families in Scotland, up from 26 per cent in the mid-1990s, the foundation said.

It added that the two-child benefit cap was contributing to a high rate of poverty among families with three or more children.

Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said: “Our ambitious strategy will use all available levers to address the problems we face through work, housing, education, heath, childcare and the social security system.”