Charities raise the voice of children on the campaign trail
Young people quiz politicians at Scottish election hustings
The voice of young people has been raised in the Holyrood election campaign at a special hustings.
Leading charities campaigning for an end to child poverty staged the event when young people were given the chance to quiz candidates in the Scottish Parliament election next month.
The young people, many of them under 16 and still too young to vote, grilled the aspiring MSPs on their parties’ plans to tackle priority issues, including the impact of poverty on their lives and life chances.
Aberlour Children’s Charity, Save the Children Scotland and Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland (CPAG) staged the “Speak Up!” event before the election on 7 May 2026.
The election comes as research reveals around one in five children are growing up in poverty in Scotland with most party manifestos including policies intended to ease the crisis.
However, the trio of campaigning charities behind the hustings in Glasgow on Thursday [23 APRIL 2026] fear the voice of children has not been heard in the campaign so far.
The panel of Holyrood candidates included Shirley-Anne Somerville, the SNP secretary for social justice; Patrick Harvie, former leader of the Scottish Greens; Scottish Labour candidate Vonnie Sandlan and Paul McGarry, standing for the Liberal Democrats.
Children and young people from across Scotland helped organise the hustings and chose the questions at the standing-room only event at The Boardwalk venue.
The panel was quizzed on issues ranging from the homelessness crisis and how to reduce the cost of school, from cheaper uniforms to free meals, to better support for care-experienced children and young asylum seekers.
The need to ease the wide-ranging impact of poverty was a recurring theme with the candidates promising a range of policies to support children and their families, from increasing the Scottish Child Payment to creating better-paid jobs and apprenticeships.
After the event, Justina Murray, chief executive of Aberlour, thanked the candidates for their commitment to easing the impact of poverty but said it must be the priority of the next Scottish Government.
She said:
The parties’ manifestos have also addressed some of these issues and that is welcome but words on a page are not nearly enough.
“Election promises mean little compared to effective policies backed by the resource and ambition to drive them into place.
“We are grateful to the candidates for attending the hustings that allowed our young people to explain why child poverty is not a crisis to be managed but a national emergency to be ended.
Laurie Goldie, Participation Manager at Save the Children Scotland, said:
We were delighted to partner with Aberlour and CPAG in Scotland to design and deliver a political hustings with a difference, with young people front and centre.
“Children and young people care about child poverty and the issues that impact them, their classmates, and their families.
“It’s so important that they get the opportunity to hold our political representatives to account ahead of the Scottish elections.
“Meaningful involvement of children and young people must be considered non-negotiable as Scotland aims to achieve the 2030 Child Poverty Targets.
“Politicians must listen, act on what they’ve heard, and find more meaningful ways to engage young people in the next parliament.
John Dickie, director of CPAG in Scotland, said:
Young people used this special hustings to tell Holyrood candidates that they need to end child poverty if children’s lives are to be improved.
“Involving young people is key to understanding how things must change. The questions they put to candidates were powerful and to the point.
“It's vital that all parties now act on what young people are telling them about the impact poverty is having on their lives.
“The next Parliament must listen to young people and deliver action that will further reduce the costs children face at school as well as boost family incomes so that no child is held back by poverty.