Scottish Independence: Almost a Million Scots too Poor for Proper Housing

There are almost a million people in Scotland who cannot afford adequate housing.

And a quarter of a million people do not have a proper diet, while a further 350,000 children live in homes that stay cold in the winter because heating is too expensive.

That is according to the Poverty and Social Exclusion in the United Kingdom project, led by a team of academics.

It also found that 13% of adults in paid work is poor.

"The UK government continues to ignore the deep problems in the Scottish and UK labour markets," Dr Nick Bailey of the University of Glasgow, who works on the project, said.

"They do not have adequate policies to address this growing problem. UK and Scottish governments both need to do more."

Poverty is a key theme in the Scottish independence debate ahead of the referendum on 18 September.

The pro-independence campaign claim Scotland's problems are ignored by the Westminster government and that if it split from the UK it could use North Sea oil and gas revenues to help support the most needy in society.

But those against independence say Scotland already gets more public money per head spent on it than the rest of the UK and that splitting would actually make the country poorer.