A COMMITMENT to eradicate child poverty in Scotland by First Minister John Swinney was dismissed as “empty rhetoric” by Scottish Labour today.

Mr Swinney, who leads the SNP government at Holyrood, will say in a speech in Stirling on Wednesday that tackling child poverty is a “moral imperative.”

The First Minister is appealing for support for the SNP’s Budget Bill, which is expected to be tabled at Holyrood in February.