Deputy First Minister John Swinney has written to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt ahead of his Spring Budget to call for targeted support to help more families out of poverty by reinstating the uplift to Universal Credit, increasing it to £25 per week and extending it to means-tested legacy benefits.

In the letter, he said vulnerable households should not have to bear the burden of soaring energy prices, and called for windfall tax revenues to fund much-needed support.

Mr Swinney also pressed for support for struggling businesses to provide the certainty to invest and grow.

Commenting on cost of living pressures and energy support, Mr Swinney wrote: “Scotland is an energy rich nation, with significant renewable energy resource, yet fuel poverty is increasing. We estimate that the planned increase in the Energy Price Guarantee to £3,000 and ending of the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme would result in an additional 120,000 fuel-poor households in Scotland compared to this winter.

“It is essential that the UK Government reverses its plan to increase the Energy Price Guarantee from April and extends its support for domestic customers, given the Scottish Government does not yet hold all the powers to address the issue of high energy costs at source. I have consistently called upon the UK Government to provide additional support for vulnerable households with their energy costs, funded through taxing windfall gains rather than passing the cost on to taxpayers, which has regrettably not been forthcoming.”