John Swinney's reputation 'damaged beyond repair' as he wins confidence vote

The reputation of Scotland’s embattled Education Secretary has been “damaged irreparably” it was claimed this evening, despite John Swinney defeating a vote of no confidence in Holyrood.

Nicola Sturgeon defended her Education Secretary John Swinney amid calls for him to resign.

The Scottish Conservatives said Mr Swinney was "discredited” after he refused to resign over the exam grades fiasco and a series of other “education scandals”.

Mr Swinney won the vote against him today by 67 votes to 58, after the SNP won the support of the Scottish Greens to keep him in place.

However, after the vote, Scottish Conservative Holyrood leader, Ruth Davidson, said that while he had been “a huge contributor to parliament”, he had only survived after a “last-minute pact with the Greens”.

She added: “The principle of parliamentary responsibility is forever damaged by his clinging on. Scottish education desperately needs new leadership and damaged, discredited John Swinney simply isn't able to deliver it."

She was backed by Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie who said pressure would continue to grow on Mr Swinney to go. “When the policy direction is constantly changing in an erratic and uncontrolled fashion it has an debilitating impact on the organisation. That is when the organisation just does not know what to expect next and loses confidence in the leadership.

“That has been happening to John Swinney for years now. The chopping and changing on the education bill, curriculum for excellence, testing, blended learning, the exams and the falling international standing of our education system are central to the reasons he should leave his post as Education Secretary.”

And Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said that his party had lodged the motion of no confidence, “not out of retribution, but out of our duty, to the school students and teachers the Education Secretary disregarded and disrespected, to say we have no confidence in him to sort out the mess he created."

He added: “As the Education Secretary clings onto his job, he should remember that tonight’s vote is not an endorsement of his record of failure. It is an indictment of a governing party which prioritises looking after its own rather than standing up for education, and a so-called opposition party – the Greens – which could be mistaken for the SNP government’s back bench.

“Scotland’s education system will face many more challenges over the coming weeks, months and years. It is the Scottish Government’s duty to ensure our children are never failed in this way again.”

However Mr Swinney’s colleague Angela Constance, who had earlier described how tough a job it was to be Scotland's Education Secretary, said: "Parliament today endorsed the actions of John Swinney in restoring grades to young people across Scotland. Those young people have shown themselves to be a far more effective force for good than Labour, the Tories or the Lib Dems.

"When the SNP behaved like the opposition parties behaved today we spent seven more years in opposition. It is clear that, while Scotland’s young people are excellent learners, Holyrood‘s opposition has a long way to go."

For an hour in the Scottish Parliament Mr Swinney had to listen in silence as opposition MSPs reeled off claims of educational “failures” of the government, while SNP backbenchers rose to his defence, which was led by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon who described him as “one of the most decent and dedicated people in Scottish politics."

Ms Sturgeon expressed her confidence in Mr Swinney and claimed the "opportunistic" no-confidence motion was "not about principle, this is simply about politics".

"The last few days have been more difficult than they should ever have been for many young people in Scotland. I know that, and I am sorry, and so is John Swinney," she said. "I readily acknowledge that we focused too much on the system and not enough on individuals.

"A desire to avoid something that would look like grade inflation meant students lost out on grades that their teachers believed they deserved. The statistical model used meant many more students were downgraded in poorer areas than in other parts of Scotland.

"That was wrong, which is why the Deputy First Minister set out a solution on Tuesday and restored the grades of young people across the country."

However Ruth Davidson said: “For parliamentary responsibility to work, the sanction must fit the scale of the failure and this was the biggest exams failure in the history of devolution.

“When faced with the thousands of students whose dreams were dashed, he dug in and defended the system over the pupils. When presented with clear analysis showing children from the most deprived areas were hit hardest, he went on the nightly television news to deny it – saying the ‘data does not bear that out’ - when that’s exactly what the data did do.

“As high a regard as people cross this chamber may hold John Swinney, the timeline of a threat of no confidence and the total U-turn that transpired, opens the education secretary to accusations he cared more about his own job than our children’s futures.”

Ms Davidson said that the exams fiasco was the latest in a long line of education failures on Mr Swinney’s watch, including falling PISA standards, the scrapping of the Named Persons Bill, high school subject choice limitations, a row over testing primary ones, dropping the Education Bill, and hundreds of teacher vacancies.

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Joy Yates

Editorial Director