Analysis of official OECD data by the Scottish National Party (SNP) revealed the UK has the worst safety net for the unemployed, lagging far behind its European counterparts.

growing controversy over the levels of state support for lower-income households, amid bruising inflation.

Governing since 2010, the right-wing Conservatives have slashed the UK’s social security safety net; introduced a two-child benefit cap; a bedroom tax (which cuts benefits if you live in a house with an extra bedroom); frozen local housing allowances and cut universal credit.

Over the last decade, the number of children living in poverty has risen by around 600,000, while half a million more pensions are in poverty, according to the government’s annual ‘households below average income’ report.