The truth is out. there is no money for new schools in Edinburgh or anywhere else. These are not my words but those of the SNP MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, Kenny McAskill. At tonight's Portobello High School Parents Council he said, and I quote “the times of Councils bidding for money are over. We’ve given them the money and its up to them to choose now” which would be fine if the settlement include money for schools; but it doesn’t.When challenged by gobsmacked parents he repeated the claim that “the time for bidding is over”.
The trouble is there is no money in the settlement for new schools, certainly not as there was in support for new schools from the previous Labour Administration. From the previous administration Edinburgh Council received around 80% of the £310m invested into the 20 plus new schools and community centres Edinburgh Labour will have
delivered for the City. Had Labour been in administration again in Holyrood, there would have been a 3rd round of that kind of support.Having seen the figures, I can assure you that there is not anything like that in the money we have received from the SNP Government, nothing like it at all. So the truth is out. The time for bidding is over. There really is no new money for Scotland's schools. You heard it here first!
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2 comments:
You would have thought that the leader of the Labour group on Edinburgh Council would be able to appreciate the new funding arrangements in the way that 'senior Labour councillors' can. See the Herald for details on http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/news/display.var.1962353.0.More_of_Labours_councillors_back_end_of_ringfencing.php
The fact you're not being told how to spend the money doesn't mean it isn't there. You don't need to be led by the hand everywhere, so why do you want the Government to carry on making council decisions?
The SNP Scottish Government has freed up councils to make their own decisions and you should welcome that, since your party has been calling for it for the past eight years.
Calum
Nice to hear from you again. Thing is, the same SNP promised to match Labour promised 250 new schools brick for brick. Thats around £1b worth of new schools. I don't see £1b in the budgets, nothing like it. We don't need led by the hand but we do need the money to make the decisions that are right for our area. In Edinburgh, the five schools we wanted to build or refurbish will cost around £130m. wheres that in our budgets...
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