Education secretary criticised for 'meddling' in council school closure decision

Michael Russell has been accused of "meddling" in a council's decision to close schools in a leaked email.

The Education Secretary has been asked to provide an explanation after the message revealed he had intervened with Argyll and Bute SNP councillors over their support for several school closures in the area.

The e-mail, sent from Mr Russell's parliamentary account, concerned potential closures in the constituency where he will stand for election in May.

Opposition politicians have now accused Mr Russell of using his position as Education Secretary to "meddle" and misusing parliamentary resources.

In the message Mr Russell said, as the prospective parliamentary candidate, he would speak to SNP group leader Robert MacIntyre about proposed school closures "as a matter of urgency".

He said he believed that "if the group supports the proposals next week we will have very severe problems which could be very destructive to our reputation and prospects".

Mr Russell said the policy "should not be allowed to proceed" and called for an emergency meeting to discuss it.

Although Mr Russell represents the South of Scotland, he will stand as a candidate in Argyll and Bute in May.

Under the parliamentary code of conduct, MSPs are not allowed to use parliamentary resources to campaign on constituency issues in regions they do not represent.

MSPs are also prevented from using parliamentary IT systems to run election campaigns.

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said: "The only reason Mr Russell sent this email is because he is worried about what the closures will do for his personal election prospects.

"He has a lot of explaining to do.

"Parents across Scotland are seeing schools close because of SNP cuts but do not have the luxury of an Education Minister desperately lobbying for them.

"On top of that he has been caught using Scottish Parliament resources to boost his election campaign in a constituency he does not represent in parliament.

"Mr Russell has a lot of explaining, and what he has done will clearly need to be investigated carefully."

An aide to Mr Russell said: "Mr Russell makes it clear he is not acting in a ministerial capacity and was simply replying to an e-mail sent to him, setting out his opinion on an important local issue which he is perfectly entitled to do.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with this e-mail exchange.

"Mr Russell has already made it clear he will have no role in decisions regarding Argyll school closures.

"Should any case come before the Scottish Government, Mr Russell would be excluded because of his interest."