First Minister under fire over SNP’S record on education after losing vote

Nicola Sturgeon was accused of “talking down” to teachers as she came under fire over primary one testing at First Minister’s Questions yesterday.

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said the Scottish Government had made a “mess” of education and called on the First Minister to respect the will of the parliament and ditch primary one tests.

The attack came the day after opposition parties defeated education secretary John Swinney by voting for primary one tests to be scrapped.

Mr Leonard said school budgets had been cut by £400 million, the SNP administration’s flagship Education Bill had been scrapped and added that teachers were considering strike action.

He said teachers were against primary one testing, adding: “The First Minister always accuses others of talk- ing Scotland down I only wish that she would stop talking down to Scotland’s teachers, and start valuing them instead.”

Earlier Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson claimed a decrease in subject choice for pupils in the later years of secondary school meant pupils had lost 622,000 qualifications over the last five years.

But Ms Sturgeon dismissed this, as she insisted her Tory rival had “zero credibility” on education.