STURGEON GETS REALITY CHECK

First Minister attacked in TV debate over SNP’s failures

NICOLA Sturgeon was last night accused of being ‘blind to reality’ as she came under attack for her record in charge of Scotland’s schools and hospitals.

The SNP leader was grilled on Scotland sliding down the global education league tables during the first televised debate featuring all the Scottish party leaders.

But she was accused of ignoring facts as she insisted performance in science and maths was ‘stable’, reading had improved and the attainment gap had reduced. She was also criticised for putting her push for another independence referendum ahead of other ‘priorities’ – such as tackling the crisis facing the health service.

Labour also faced fresh claims the party was prepared to sell out the Union to get Jeremy Corbyn into power after its Scottish leader, Richard Leonard, said that there should be no ‘time immemorial lock’ on another vote on separation taking place.

During a ‘cross-examination’ section of the STV debate in Glasgow last night, Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie condemned the performance of Scotland’s schools.

He said: ‘Nicola, when you became First Minister, you said judge me on my record on education. The international study on

Scotland’s education today is embarrassing. It is letting down our children.

‘Are you ashamed of letting down so many young people.’

Miss Sturgeon insisted that is not the ‘reality’, citing that performance on reading has improved ‘sharply’ following a focus on literacy.

She said: ‘Performance in maths, in science, is stable and in line with the OECD average and we are focused now on making sure we see improvements there. That is responsibility.

‘As I said, I want to be judged on education. That is why we are seeing a higher performance in other exam results, performance in attainment rising and the attainment gap closing.’

But Mr Rennie replied: ‘If you are telling me that a line on a chart going downwards is optimistic and successful then I think the problem with innumeracy in your Government goes right to the top.

‘Look at the chart, look at the figures – science and maths going down .... The chart is going down, not up. You’re blind to the reality.’

Miss Sturgeon was also questioned on the infection deaths at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow and delays to the opening of the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh.

Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw said: ‘Which of these government failures on your watch are you going to make a priority to resolve?’

Miss Sturgeon said she was taking action to fix ventilation problems at the children’s hospital and insisted all were priorities – but Mr Carlaw said she had been touring the country in recent days rather than tackling these issues.

He said: ‘You actually have already said that none of these will be priorities.

‘What you’ve said is that your priority, next week, after this election, is going to be to demand another independence referendum and you want that next year.

‘So your priority isn’t the Sick kids Hospital, it is not the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, it is not standards in schools – these are all failures over all the period, the five years, that you’ve been First Minister – it is to take the country back to more division.’

Miss Sturgeon said she wanted Scotland to have the chance to ‘choose its own future’ and said reading performance in schools had ‘shown such an improvement’, while insisting she will continue to focus on science and maths.

When Miss Sturgeon said she had invested in progressive policies and public services, Mr Rennie said: ‘You should be ashamed of your record in government.’

During last night’s debate, Mr Leonard faced a series of questions about Jeremy Corbyn’s neutral stance on a second EU referendum and his failure to rule out granting an independence referendum.

In a section on the constitution, Miss Sturgeon ridiculed Mr Corbyn’s approach on Brexit, saying to Mr Leonard: ‘What is Jeremy Corbyn’s position on any of these things? Is he Leave or Remain?

‘He wants to be Prime Minister yet he cannot answer the biggest question of our time.’

Miss Sturgeon said the other leaders should not think they have the right to decide whether another independence referendum should

‘Should be ashamed of your record’ ‘You are blind to the reality’

take place. Asked by debate host Colin Mackay if he would accept the right for another independence referendum, Mr Leonard said: ‘Yeah, I mean we’ve said that there should not be a time immemorial lock on this.

‘Jackson spoke about 2054 or something... What we have said is that the election of a Labour government would lead to transformational change which would eclipse the argument for a second independence referendum.’

Asked to name the date when Labour would agree to this, Mr Leonard said: ‘We’ve said that if there was a demonstrable show of support in 2021, 2026, 2031...’

However, he insisted there is not currently a mandate to have

another vote. Mr Carlaw said: ‘Are we seriously supposed to believe that Jeremy Corbyn, who has conceded the principle of a second referendum, if Nicola Sturgeon phones him up after this election and says, “I will put you into power if you agree to it”, then he is going to say no?

‘Because I don’t think anyone watching this programme believes it, Richard.’

On social media, former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson said Mr Leonard was ‘drowning, not waving’ during the debate.

She said: ‘Richard Leonard absolutely selling the jersey on the UK in this debate. Conceding he’d enable a second Indyref in 2021. Getting himself in quite the fankle doing so.’ Her fellow Scottish Tory Annie Wells said: ‘Jackson Carlaw was far and away the strongest advocate tonight for defending Scotland’s place in the UK.’

‘If you want to stop the SNP, stop Corbyn, and get the country focused on what matters, the best thing to do next week is to lend your vote to the Scottish Conservatives.’

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said: ‘The STV debate made it clear that only the SNP can beat the Tories in Scotland – and deprive Boris Johnson of the majority he so desperately craves.

‘The Scottish Tories have completely sold out to Boris Johnson and admitted they will rubber-stamp every decision he takes.’