Nicola Sturgeon warns the spiralling cost of living crisis will “undoubtedly” lead to people dying.
Her stark prediction comes as households across the north and north-east struggle to make ends meet with their food and fuel bills skyrocketing.
During a visit to a free breakfast club, the first minister defended the Scottish Government record.
She said the Tory Government needs to give Holyrood more money to help them deal with the crisis.
However, the UK Government said it is also making changes to welfare and tax to help struggling families.
‘We need action’, says Sturgeon
During her visit to the breakfast club Ms Sturgeon said: “We are going to see an increase in deprivation and undoubtedly loss of life.
“And by October 30% of households will be in severe fuel poverty so we need to see the kind of urgent action we had at the start of the pandemic.”
“We are looking to extend the eligibility of the Scottish child payment and raise the value from £20 to £25 per child per week.
“We will also look at our budgets to see if we can change our priorities to direct resources to those in need.
“But we need action from the UK Government who have responsibility for tax welfare and regulating the energy market.”
Plea for more money to help businesses
Ms Sturgeon also pleaded for Westminster to further increase the Scottish Government’s budgets so they can also support businesses struggling with the cost of living crisis.
Earlier this week we revealed that the owner of the Royal Crown Chinese Takeaway in Torry warned he would have to close after his gas bills rose from £1,000 to more than £10,000 a quarter.
Although SSE did step in to reduce this estimate, his bills are still going to increase by threefold.
Nom Nom Fudge in the city also announced it was closing this week due to the spiralling costs.
Ms Sturgeon said Scottish ministers will look at all their options, but warned they only have a tight budget to work towards.
She said: “I am not trying to pass the buck here, but we are operating with a fixed budget.
“We don’t have borrowing powers to increase our resources and we need to pay the wages of people in the health service.”
A spokesman for the UK Government said: “We understand that people are struggling with rising prices which is why we have acted to protect the 8 million most vulnerable British families through at least £1,200 of direct payments this year with additional support for pensioners and those claiming disability benefits.
“Through our £37 billion support package we are also saving the typical employee over £330 a year through a tax cut in July, allowing people on Universal Credit to keep £1,000 more of what they earn and cutting fuel duty by 5p saving a typical family £100.”
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