LAST week, anti-poverty campaigners published a child poverty map of Scotland.

It painted a grim picture and it should make all of us sit up and take notice.

The map confirmed the appalling statistic that one in five Scottish children live in poverty. To put it in context, that amounts to 220,000 of our youngsters.

But, even more alarming, the map showed that there are parts of the country where the problem is significantly worse. In five council areas in Scotland - East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire and Inverclyde, Clackmannanshire and Dundee - one in four children are growing up in families that struggle to make ends meet.

And here in the city of Glasgow it is worse still, with one in three children living in poverty.

These statistics are unacceptable - and let's remember that behind every single one of them lies a human being, a young life deprived of the opportunities and day-to-day necessities of life that most of us take for granted.

And there should be no need for it.

If we were a poor country, these statistics would be no less heartbreaking, but they might be more inevitable.

But we are not a poor country, we are one of the richest countries in the world. In other words, there is no excuse.

The question is: what are we going to do about it?

I have been in politics long enough to know that the answers aren't easy. The problem has been long in the making so it would be naive to think it can be solved overnight.

But I also know that unless we up our game, and quickly, we'll be letting down not just this generation of children, but the one after that as well.

The first - and I think blindingly obvious - thing we have to do is stop making the problem worse.

UK welfare cuts are pushing more children into poverty, that is beyond dispute.

The Scottish Government is doing its best to cushion that blow, but we can only do so much.

That's why I think it's so important to take responsibility for social security away from Westminster and give it to the Scottish Parliament, so we can build a system that will lift people out of poverty.

I appeal to the many good people in the Scottish Labour Party to back us in seeking to persuade the Smith Commission on more powers for the Scottish Parliament to make this happen.

And second, we must use whatever powers we do have, at any time, to make the biggest difference we can.

That means doing everything we legally can to promote the living wage. It means focusing on early intervention and expanding childcare.

Above all else, it means putting the crusade against child poverty at the very top of our national agenda.

If the Scottish Parliament elects me as First Minister next month, as I hope it will, that's what I pledge to do. We - and I - owe it to the next generation.