Labour hopeful pledges to give more help to students

Published on Saturday 9 August 2008 23:56

LABOUR leadership candidate Iain Gray yesterday pledged that bringing cash help for Scottish students in line with their counterparts in England would be a priority if he was elected.

Gray is competing against former health minister Andy Kerr and ex-justice minister Cathy Jamieson to succeed Wendy Alexander as Labour's Holyrood leader.

He said students in Scotland who are eligible for full financial support received a total of 4,510 a year.

But he said students in England in the same situation could get 6,200 a year.

The former enterprise minister added there were 35,000 students in Scotland who receive full support from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland. And he claimed it would cost 18m a year to increase their loans to match support given to students in England.

Meanwhile, Cathy Jamieson called for an extra 15m to be spent on helping children in the first year of school.

She claimed the cash would deliver at least 500 qualified early years workers for primary one classes.