Holyrood aid call in school crisis

Published on Wednesday 5 September 2007 00:16

LIBERAL Democrats will order SNP councillors to secure funding from their MSP colleagues to solve Edinburgh's education cash crisis and save their fragile coalition.

The news came as opposition councillors from Labour and the Greens demanded an emergency meeting, the first in the administration's 11-year history.

Earlier this week, the city's Lib Dems met to discuss whether to break the partnership in the wake of the SNP rebellion against plans to close 22 schools in the capital.

A decision is expected today on whether the joint administration will continue after both parties held more crisis talks. On Monday, the majority Liberal Democrat group agreed to shelve the controversial proposals to close the schools.

They were forced into the humiliating withdrawal after their Nationalist partners removed their backing for the plans.

The Lib Dems are furious at what they see as a betrayal and the role played by the party's MSPs, who put pressure on councillors to withdraw support for the closure plans.

Now they want SNP councillors to prove their loyalty by securing a new funding settlement from the Scottish Government to bridge the gap in the capital's schools budget.

Two weeks ago, both parties had agreed to put the proposals out to consultation, saying the cuts were necessary to save 9million over three years, but the plans created unprecedented anger across the city.

A Lib Dem source was quoted as saying yesterday: "There's a general feeling in our group that the SNP should ask for more funding from the Scottish Government.

"We are in a financial hole and the SNP certainly has not helped. We now have to go to the Scottish Government and say: 'If you want these schools to stay open, you have to pay for it'."