When Westminster is in meltdown and you can no longer tell Tory from Labour, the case for Scotland having full powers over its own future grows stronger every day.

And while it is my party’s job to evidence that case, in the past week a report from a leading think tank highlighted how giving Scotland full powers over employment law could help lift tens of thousands of Scots out of poverty.

IPPR Scotland praised the Scottish Government’s No One Left Behind and Fair Start Scotland strategies, with the potential to lift a total of 270,000 people out of poverty. Despite this, the think tank, which shares our aims for a fairer, greener, more prosperous Scotland, warned that tens of thousands of adults and children could remain trapped in poverty, and suggested full devolution of employment law to the Scottish Government as one method of addressing this.

With full control over employment law, the Scottish Parliament would be able to protect and extend workers’ rights – with the power to introduce progressive measures like a Real Living Wage and increased statutory sick pay.

I am pleased to see that the IPPR Scotland director, Philip Whyte, recognises that the current system is arguably failing countless folk across Scotland who are trapped between the devolved system that we are running and a reserved system that he says is more often punitive than supportive.

While Scotland is held back by the reserved Jobcentre system, which is more often focussed on compliance than helping folk reach their full potential, too many of our citizens will continue to feel unvalued and unsupported in their quest for good, secure, well-paid work.

It was the ethos of supporting folk into steady, sustainable work that shone through in last Thursday’s Social Justice and Social Security Committee debate on its inquiry ‘addressing child poverty through parental employment’.

The committee’s inquiry sought to bring together all the strands of what is a complex issue regarding the fundamental support that is needed to help parents, particularly those on low incomes, to find and then keep steady employment.

As Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice Shirley-Anne Somerville said during the debate, tackling child poverty is a central mission of the Scottish Government. It is clear from the committee’s report and from what was heard in the debate, that while there is certainly more that needs to be done in different areas—by the Scottish Government, local government and the UK Government—the Scottish Government is taking action to ensure that families are protected from poverty and are given the opportunity to thrive here in Scotland.

These fundamentals of growing our economy were echoed only a day earlier in a debate on that topic. Economy Secretary Màiri McAllan told the chamber it was clear that only as an independent country can Scotland truly realise what this Government has long pursued under devolution—namely, the true economic potential of this country, side by side with the health, wellbeing, and happiness of all who live here.

This is a regular column by SNP MSP Emma Roddick. All Highlands and Islands MSPs have been offered the same space in The Orkney News to share their personal views.