Yousaf promises to look into increasing child payments if he’s chosen to replace Sturgeon

SNP leadership hopeful Humza Yousaf said he would seek to increase Scotland’s child benefit if elected.

The health secretary is currently running against Treasury Secretary Kate Forbes and former community security minister Ash Regan to replace Nicola Sturgeon.

One of the biggest achievements of Ms Sturgeon’s tenure was the creation of a decentralized benefits agency, which then launched the Scottish child benefit – a payout of £25 a week to the country’s poorest families with children under the age of 16.

Speaking to the Daily Record, Mr Yousaf said he would try to go further.

“Without a doubt,” he said when asked if he would go further.

“The benefit of being First Minister is that you get to choose what your priorities are.

“I would like us to increase that further to ensure it helps the poorest and most vulnerable in our society.

“In my first budget I would try to see what we could do to increase the Scottish child payment.”

Mr Yousaf also said he would seek to withdraw a current consultation on alcohol advertising bans, citing a “level of concern” about potential changes. He added he would restart the process to make it clearer to companies what changes were likely to be made.

“I would like to withdraw it, but let me be very clear, with the absolute determination to move this consultation forward again,” he said.

He added: “I see the damage that alcohol is doing to people’s health, but it is clear that the current consultation raises a certain level of concern.

“I think there’s often a lot of misinformation out there about certain issues that impact business, and I think we need to make sure that when we create advice that ultimately impacts business, we do it the way we do it Before the consultation goes, explain what we are trying to do.