Yes Scotland’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender group today launched its campaign for equal rights to be enshrined in a new Scottish constitution following a vote for independence in next year’s referendum.

More than 1,000 marched in central Edinburgh in support of equality. At last year’s march,Yes LGBT gathered more than 300 Yes declaration signatures at Pride Scotia, and the organisers anticipate adding substantially to that total this weekend.

Toni Giugliano, a gay activist and Yes Scotland’s sectoral groups co-ordinator, explained that this would be the LGBT community’s next big campaign: "The LGBT community has been saying Yes to a fairer and more equal society for years. That’s why we’re embracing the chance to shape the future of our country with equality at its heart.

Today Nicola Sturgeon delivered a speech that set out the impact of Westminster’s welfare changes on child poverty and on women in Scotland.

Full welfare powers to lift children out of poverty

Across Scotland one in five children are in poverty, according to campaign groups. But Westminster is making life worse for children – Ms Sturgeon highlighted a recent report that found there will be 50,000 more children living in poverty in Scotland by 2020 than there were in 2011 as a result of Westminster’s welfare cuts.

There is only so much we can do to tackle child poverty in Scotland without full powers of independence. Successive Scottish Governments have shown their commitment to using current powers to reduce child poverty, and the Deputy First Minister highlighted how the Scottish Government was using powers over issues like childcare and early years development to help families and children.

The destruction of the welfare state in the UK is one of the main reasons for backing independence, Yes Scotland Chief Executive has said.

While an expert group this week recommended that Scotland should continue to administer a joint system with the rest of the UK in the first few years after a Yes vote, the key point is that Scotland has the will and the means to create a fairer and more caring country.

Addressing a public meeting in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, Mr Jenkins said: "We should not lose sight of the fact that under successive Westminster governments the UK has become the fourth most unequal country in the developed world.

The Scottish Government’s Expert Working Group on Welfare has reported today. The Group was established in January 2013 with a remit to scrutinise and challenge the Scottish Government’s work on assessing the cost of benefit payments and the delivery of those payments in an independent Scotland.

Scotland’s wealthy enough to afford a fair welfare system

The Expert Working Group has said that the Scottish Government's preliminary forecasts on the affordability of a Scottish welfare system are "a reasonable estimate of the costs of benefit spending and related administrative costs, given the information currently available to the Scottish Government".

Every time I see yet another No campaign scare story my mind turns to the sombre warning issued by none other than Gordon Brown days before the 2007 Scottish election. With every ounce of gravitas he could muster and based on his wisdom and experience as the Chancellor who ended "boom and bust", Mr Brown assured people in Scotland that:

“The day after an SNP administration came to power, the fiscal position would start to become chaotic, unstable and unsustainable.”

Of course, a few months later the world’s economy did enter a period of chaos and instability, but few if any would put the US sub-prime mortgage collapse and ensuing stock market crashes down to the SNP. Indeed, for most fair-minded observers, it is reasonable to say that the sky did not fall in when the SNP became Scotland’s government. Mr Brown was engaging in that favourite of No politicians, the politics of fear.