A lack of investment is cutting off opportunities for our young people.

13 August 2017

Education was supposed to be the number one priority for the SNP – but the numbers just don't add up.

Since the SNP came to power, education has seen a smaller share of public spending, meaning that millions of pounds less has been spent on education than if the SNP had kept pace with Labour's choices.

Under Labour, 13% of public spending was on the Education and Trainin budget. Under the SNP, that area has fallen to 11.8% of spending.

If the SNP had kept pace with Labour’s investment in Education and Training, it would have spent 13% or £75.6billion.

That means the SNP has spent £6.9 billion less over its period in office than if they had kept pace with the Labour years – or, on average,  £773 million a year less.

Meanwhile, there has been a huge fall in pupils sitting key subjects since Nicola Sturgeon became First Minister.

At Higher level, there has been:

• An 11 per cent drop in Chemistry
• A 14 per cent drop in Maths
• A 12 per cent drop in Physics

At National 5 level there has been:

• A 24 per cent drop in French
• A 26 per cent drop in German
• A 31 percent drop in Italian

These figures show that a lack of investment is cutting off opportunities for our young people.

This week, Labour’s summer campaign ‘For The Many’ turns to education with a back to school theme. We’ll outline ideas on how we would make Scottish education better.

Keep up with the campaign so far by clicking the image below: