Holyrood has passed "historic" legislation making Scotland the only part of the UK with statutory targets to cut child poverty.

MSPs unanimously backed the Scottish Government's Child Poverty Bill at its final parliamentary hurdle.

Campaigners said the move was a “hugely welcome step in the fight to end child poverty in Scotland”.

John Dickie, director of the Child Poverty Action Group, said: “We are delighted that in today's vote all the political parties at Holyrood have recognised that child poverty is unacceptable, that it is not inevitable and that it can be eradicated.

“The unanimous support for income based child poverty targets and for national delivery plans setting out the employment, social security, housing and childcare measures needed to end child poverty creates an important springboard for the action and investment that is now needed."

Equalities Secretary Angela Constance told Holyrood the bill’s passing marked "an historic milestone on our road to eradicating child poverty".

She said: "The bill signals the importance that we as a parliament and as a country place on tackling the unacceptable levels of child poverty across Scotland.”

In 2015/16 one in four children in Scotland were living in relative poverty after housing costs.

The legislation emerged following the UK Government's decision to remove targets from the Child Poverty Act 2010.

Scottish ministers will now be required to ensure that by 2030 less than 10 per cent of children are in relative poverty, defined as those living in a home earning below 60 per cent of the current median UK household income.

Less than 5 per cent of children should be in absolute poverty, meaning households earning below 60 per cent of the 2010/11 national median income.

Further targets are for less than 5 per cent of children to be assessed as being in combined low income and material deprivation and less than 5 per cent in persistent poverty.

Ms Constance said: "We all know that the 2030 targets are highly ambitious and challenging, but poverty is not inevitable and as we've seen during the passage of this Bill there is a genuine cross-party desire to place these targets in statute and then to take action to meet them, and if everyone plays their part the targets are indeed achievable and we can transform the prospects of generations to come.”