Anas Sarwar and Nicola Sturgeon clash over cost of living 'crisis'

Anas Sarwar has accused the Scottish Government of not doing enough to tackle a looming “cost of living crisis” this winter.

The Scottish Labour leader said 613,000 people in Scotland were living in fuel poverty, a third of whom are pensioners, and urged the government to provide extra support to these households.

Nicola Sturgeon insisted the government was doing what it could within its powers, but said it was “simply not possible” to fully mitigate decisions taken at UK level.

She called on Scottish Labour to support her calls to devolve more powers over social security.

The pair clashed during First Minister’s Questions on Thursday afternoon.

It comes after the death of a woman in her 90s at the weekend due to starvation – the first such case in Scotland in over a decade.

Sarwar said the government “must take action now” to ensure people are not having to choose between heating and eating.

He said: “This is urgent. People are facing rising costs today. Energy bills will rise tomorrow. People need help now. We can’t dither and delay when families need that reassurance.”

He called for new funding from the UK Government to be directed towards struggling families and pensioners.

The £41m for Scotland is a consequence of an a £500m grant announced by UK work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey on Thursday to partially offset rising energy bills and the end of the furlough scheme.

Sturgeon said the cash was a “disgrace and insult” given the forthcoming cut to universal credit next week, but she confirmed “every penny” of the £41m will go to low-income families.

She added: “This government – and any government in the Scottish parliament – is simply unable to continue, week after week, month after month, year after year, to mitigate the impact of reserved policies from a limited and finite devolved budget. It simply is not possible… We can’t just wish the ends, we have to wish the means to do it.”