SCOTTISH Labour said yesterday that 2021 must be the year that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP are judged on their stewardship of education in Scotland. 

Opposition MSPs have raised concerns on the governing party’s 13-year record on education, describing it as “dismal.”

Ms Sturgeon has previously described improving education in Scotland as the “defining mission” of her government and said that she should be judged on her record on education.

But Scottish Labour has said that the SNP’s record on education has been a “litany of failure,” citing the decrease in spending per pupil, missed class size targets and 2020’s results scandal. 

Labour MSP Iain Gray said: “Nicola Sturgeon once said, ‘judge me on education.’

“By all measures she, and her government, have failed abysmally. This year, as the election approaches, they must be judged and face a reckoning for that failure.

“Scottish Labour would restore funding for our schools and increase teacher numbers to at least pre-SNP levels.”