Swinney clings on to job as he survives vote of no confidence

Education chief keeps his post despite exam marks blunders

‘Could see car crash coming and didn’t act’

UNDER-FIRE John Swinney has managed to hold on to his job after surviving a vote of no confidence over Scotland’s exam results fiasco.

The Education Secretary was accused of refusing to acknowledge ‘repeated warnings’ over the moderation process which led to thousands of pupils having their results downgraded.

And he was told that the ‘failure is so great it demands a resignation’.

However, Mr Swinney has refused to resign over the scandal – which led to an embarrassing U-turn from the Deputy First Minister.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the exam diet was cancelled by Mr Swinney, with grades to be estimated by teachers based on a pupil’s performance over the year and in prelims.

A moderation process was then used by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), which used a school’s past performance to ensure an equal standard – however, this resulted in 125,000 grades being lowered.

The method used sparked fury with pupils, parents, campaigners and politicians demanding that this year’s results be ruled invalid.

After a week of furious opposition, Mr Swinney finally apologised to youngsters and said results would now be based solely on those provided by teachers for those who had been downgraded.

The Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats had called for his resignation, with a rare vote of no confidence held at Holyrood yesterday. Mr Swinney, only the fourth minister to face such a vote, scraped through the proceedings, with the SNP and the Scottish Greens saving him by 67 votes to 58.

Scottish Conservative group leader Ruth Davidson said there had been ‘repeated warnings’ about the moderation of exams but that Mr Swinney had refused to act. She said: ‘The Education Secretary had the results for five days before they were published and could see the car crash that was coming and didn’t act.’

Miss Davidson added: ‘The Education Secretary’s failings are so great and the damage to his authority so fatal that he simply has to go.’

She said that leadership ‘means taking ultimate responsibility for failings in your brief’ and said the ‘failure is so great it demands a resignation’.

Miss Davidson said: ‘The principle of parliamentary responsibility is forever damaged by his clinging on. Scottish education desperately needs new leadership and damaged, discredited John Swinney isn’t able to deliver it.’

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard, whose party brought the vote to parliament, said the call for a resignation was a ‘reckoning for a long list of failures’, not just the recent results fiasco, and listed previous education failings. This included not scrapping standardised testing, and the narrowing of the curriculum.

He said Mr Swinney had ‘failed’ and that he no longer commands the confidence of opponents in the chamber.

Mr Leonard said that the vote was ‘not out of retribution, but out of our duty, to the school students and teachers the Education Secretary disregarded and disrespected, to say we have no confidence in him to sort out the mess he created.’

He added: ‘Scotland’s education system will face many more challenges over the coming weeks, months and years. It is the Scottish Government’s duty to ensure our children are never failed in this way again.’

Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie warned Mr Swinney was losing the confidence of not just

opponents but teachers, pupils and parents.

He referenced the previous U-turn after Mr swinney was forced to scrap his plans for ‘blended learning’ which would have seen children return to school part-time following the summer holidays.

the policy had sparked outrage, with demands youngsters be allowed to return to the classroom full-time without social distancing. Mr swinney finally embraced this.

Mr rennie said: ‘When the policy direction is constantly changing in an erratic and uncontrolled fashion it has an debilitating impact on the organisation. that is when the organisation just does not know what to expect next and loses confidence in the leadership.’

Mr rennie said it was time for Mr swinney to ‘leave his post as education secretary’.

But Nicola sturgeon rejected the bid. she said: ‘the deputy First Minister is probably the most honourable individual I have ever known.’ Miss sturgeon expressed her confidence in Mr swinney and claimed that opponents had called an ‘opportunistic’ no-confidence motion.

defending her deputy, Miss sturgeon said: ‘the last few days have been more difficult than they should ever have been for many young people in scotland. I know that, and I am sorry, and so is John swinney.’

she conceded it was ‘wrong’ of the government to focus on the system as a whole rather than individual students.