BORIS Johnson has described the Scottish Government’s Scottish Child Payment as an “example of the vital strength of our economic union”

The Tory leader made the claim in the Commons during a heated session of Prime Minister’s Questions. 

With just over a week until the local elections, the cost of living crisis dominated the exchanges. 

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer compared Mr Johnson to Saddam Hussain’s former information minister, Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, nicknamed Comical Ali, for his insistence that Iraq was winning the 2003 Gulf War as US forces advanced on Baghdad.

Mr Starmer said: “He sounds like the Comical Ali of the cost of living crisis. He pretends the economy is booming… but in the real world our growth is set to be slower than every G20 country except one – Russia.

“And our inflation is going to be double the rest of the G7. Does he think that denying the facts staring him in the face makes things better or worse for working people?”

Mr Johnson replied: “The facts are, as the IMF has said, that the UK came out of Covid faster than anybody else, that’s why we had the fastest growth in the G7 last year. That would not have happened if we’d listened to captain hindsight.

“And if he studies their forecasts we will return to being the fastest by 2024 and the fastest in 2025. That’s what the IMF’s forecasts say… This is the Government, this is the party that supports working people.”

He added: “I’ll tell you what’s going up – the living wage is going up by record amounts employment is going up by record amounts.

"500,000 more people in paid employment now than there were before the pandemic began, and youth unemployment at or near record lows… under Labour youth unemployment rose by 44 per cent."

The SNP’s Ian Blackford tried to offer the Prime Minister a “parting gift” by encouraging him to copy the Scottish Government’s Scottish Child Payment.

The SNP administration announced the weekly Scottish Child Payment of £10 to low income families in 2019. 

This month it doubled to £20, and will increase to £25 by the end of the year when it will also be extended to under-16s

Mr Blackford told MPs: “The Trussell trust confirmed that 870,000 children across the UK are being left to depend on emergency food parcels. So instead of convening a Tory talking shop at Cabinet, the Prime Minister should be acting to help those children and help families through the cost of living emergency. 

“If he is genuinely looking for ideas to tackle this Tory made crisis he'd be wiser to look beyond his Cabinet colleagues, who of course know that he won't be there for very much longer. 

“So as a parting gift, here's an idea for the Prime Minister. The Scottish Government has introduced and now doubled the game-changing Scottish child payment of at least £1040 a year helping those families who are being the hardest hit.” 

The Prime Minister insisted his government was doing “everything we can to help families in a tough time”.

He added:”That's why we've massively increased the funds available to local councils to support families that are having a particular hardship. The holidays and activities fund now running at £200 million is there as well. We will do everything we can to support families throughout this period when we're dealing with the aftershocks of the COVID pandemic.

“If I may say so I think this is another example, and he may not appreciate me pointing this out, but it is true, it's another example of the vital strength of our economic union and the importance of support from the UK Treasury which is what he gets.”

And, Mr Johnson said, when it came to their respective “political longevities, well I wouldn't like to bet on him outlasting me.”