THE Scottish government came under increasing pressure yesterday to scrap the disastrous private finance initiatives used to build schools and hospitals following a damning report into Edinburgh school closures.

The Unite union called for the immediate scrapping of the initiatives after Professor John Cole published a report into the closure of 17 Edinburgh schools built using private finance. The report was carried out following the collapse of a wall in a primary school in January last year.

Schools were shut for five months while investigations were ongoing, disrupting 8,400 pupils, their parents and teachers.