Ruling on religious votes

Humanist Society Scotland (HSS) has welcomed a statement from the Scottish Government that the long-standing practice of giving religious representatives the right to vote on education matters at local authority level is not a legal requirement.

HSS has now written to the leaders of each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities asking them to remove voting rights to ensure such decisions are taken by elected councillors.

Yesterday Perth and Kinross Council voted to remove voting rights from religious representatives after such votes led to the closure of Blaringone primary school in Kinross-shire.

Fraser Sutherland, HSS campaigns manager, said: “It is clear important decisions relating to education should be done on a democratic basis by people who can be held to account by the electorate. We hope local authorities will urgently review procedures.”