SNP and education

Sir,

There are two significant factors that have come to light over the course of the election campaign. One is the declared intention of the SNP to fund headteachers directly and not fund schools via their local authority; the second is the ignoring of the SNP’s own poverty czar’s report.

The SNP record on education is not good: there are a third fewer nursery teachers, they have ignored their promise to reduce class sizes to a maximum of 18 in P1-3, almost 4,500 teachers have been lost to our schools, around 150,000 further education places have been lost and the number of students from poor backgrounds dropping out from higher education has grown. I could go on. But possibly the worst cut of all has come from the SNP freeze on council tax and reduction in council budgets year on year.

Letter: The SNP and education

2 May 2016

Education is the biggest department in all councils so it suffers the most. Possibly as much as 50% of the cut of 33% in the Comhairle’s capital budget would have been spent in education. The decision to fund headteachers directly will again divert monies from local authorities. It is, of course, a deliberate policy of the SNP to emasculate local authorities. The same may be said of colleges. Control from Edinburgh is the aim.

Similar policies were introduced by Michael Forsyth, Scottish Office Minister, in the heyday of Margaret Thatcher. The Tories do not like local authorities and wished to allow ‘opted-out schools’. SNP funding headteachers directly is an obvious move towards the Tory ideology of academy schools which the Tories are trying to force on schools in England, where even the headteachers are in revolt.

Ignoring the poverty czar’s report is very telling indeed since Naomi Eisenstadt recommended that council tax should be abolished asap because it exacerbated poverty. And what do the SNP do? They decide to keep the council tax! The Czar has made it clear that over the past nine years the policies of the SNP have done nothing to reduce child poverty. Indeed it has grown. Here in the Western Isles, 1000 children live in poverty. Use of the Western Isles’ food-bank has grown year on year throughout the islands. Child poverty is a local and national disgrace.

But local officers have the knowledge of where most of these young people are, Comhairle nan Eilean have staff with the knowledge and expertise to help. Both in the education and health services, staff could do so much more given the right resources, yet the SNP starve local authorities of resources and education takes the biggest hit.

If, as the SNP insist, they can not find enough out of £30.2 billion income to fund education and health and if the SNP have no plans to increase taxation, how can promises be made of new spending in these areas?

The SNP figures just do not add up. So either there is to be the continuing freeze and cuts- regime for education and health, or some other area of the Scottish budget will take a hammering. Having ruined the police and fire services, I wonder where the SNP will go next?

There is of course, no SNP anymore, only the NSP- the Nicola Sturgeon Party where ‘she who must be obeyed’ commands the support of the Sun, the paper that rubbished the Hillsborough fans. Policy has no part to play in Nicola’s world; it is all about idolising the leader. It is the beginning of the end.

Angus McCormack

25 North Street

Sandwick

Isle of Lewis