The City of Edinburgh Council has become the first local authority to set an official end poverty date.

The council has accepted the challenge from Edinburgh Poverty Commission to end poverty in Edinburgh by 2030.

The commission has set the council four targets including ensuring no-one in the city goes without basic essentials, no-one lives in persistent poverty, no-one experiences stigma due to their income, and fewer than one in ten people are living in relative poverty at any given time.

Adam McVey, council leader, said: ‘One of the most powerful elements of the work done by the Commission was hearing and responding to the voices of those who have lived experience of poverty in Edinburgh.

’Our first priority will be to meet and agree ways of working with the new group End Poverty Edinburgh to ensure that their views can continue to shape the way we implement the commission’s findings.’