‘Thatcherite’ cuts

John Swinney’s 13.5 per cent budget cuts to further education (your report, 22 September) only confirm why the SNP were dubbed the “Tartan Tories”.

With the emphasis on educational development now focusing on the university sector, coupled with the proposed 50 per cent cuts in accessible colleges from 42 to the perceived maximum of 21, the Nationalist government is showing its true colours.

At present only 20 per cent of the students attending university are from working-class backgrounds.

With an increasingly desperate economic downturn forecast, the only way for many young people to remove themselves from poverty is to gain qualifications acceptable to employers. Most of these qualifications can only be accessed through further education.

Unfortunately, the policies of the devolved government are only going to ensure that we have another lost generation similar to the Thatcher years.

Mr Swinney’s budget will only lead to more redundancies in the further education sector, the area which has been hit the hardest of within the public sector over the past year with more redundancies than anywhere else.

Michael Donaldson

West Avenue

Plains Airdrie