If any politicians and people in public office are looking for a New Year resolution can I make a suggestion?

In fact can I be so bold as to make a suggestion for a New Year resolution for Scotland. In 2018 Scotland resolves to end child poverty.

The rates of poverty have remained stubborn for years and in Glasgow it is more acute than the rest of the country.

Every devolved administration has said it wants to work towards eradicating child poverty but with the changing of every First Minister from Donald Dewar to Nicola Sturgeon, still we have too many children living in poverty.

In fact we will now have the children of the children who grew up in poverty when the Scottish Parliament was created, living in poverty now.

And the outlook for their children is not looking much better.

In Glasgow 34% of children are classed as living in poverty. In the poorest communities the figure is higher, rising to almost half

Work is no longer a guarantee of escaping poverty with in-work poverty on the increase.

This has happened at the same time as a reduction of the number of children raised in workless households.

The Child Poverty Bill is a good starting point, setting targets for reducing child poverty and placing obligations on councils and public bodies to report what action they are taking and measure its effectiveness.

That is part of a long term project with the ambition of fewer than 10% of children to be living in relative poverty by 2030 and below 5% for absolute poverty.

The targets should be tougher. We should be resolving to completely wipe out child poverty by then.

But more can be done in the here and now. People are poor now, children are hungry now. Parents are going to food banks now and children are going to school without proper shoes and warm coats now.

One measure that could be done now is the increasing of Child Benefit by £5 a week.

It doesn’t seem like a huge amount of money but the difference it could make to some families is huge.

It is £20 a month. That could be the difference between a child having new shoes when it has outgrown the old pair.

It could be the difference of a meal every night for a child and its parents instead of people going without.

Bolder decisions on income tax from the Finance Secretary could fund this. Derek Mackay has pledged cash for anti-poverty measures and has ensured the lowest paid pay less income tax.

He could take a bit more from the richest who will hardly notice it and increase Child Benefit for those who will.

It is not just in Scotland where decisions can affect poverty. The DWP needs to seriously consider the damage that is being done.

In 2018 it can resolve to stop the punishing sanctions regime, engage with Glasgow City Council on the Working Matters scheme to get people ready for jobs and reverse the decision to close six Jobcentres in Glasgow.

Let’s make it a Happy New Year for all.