Free schoolbag is ‘a gimmick’ Reform Party leader tells First Minister as insults fly around the Holyrood chamber

Kate Forbes, John Swinney, Malcolm Offord and Mairi McAllan.

by BILL HEANEY

Reform leader Malcolm Offord has accused the First Minister of “talking himself into oblivion.”

In an ill-tempered exchange, Mr Offord told parliament: “While I was in the BBC studio on Sunday, getting wired up for my final interview of an eventful weekend, I was forced to listen to the first interviewee droning on and on for 15 minutes without answering a single question.

“To stop myself drifting off as the First Minister talked himself into oblivion, I reached for The Sunday Times. What did I see on the front page? I saw the new column by none other than the former Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes. Does the First Minister agree with her commonsense analysis on North Sea gas?”

Malcolm Offord upset the occupants of the SNP benches. He then turned the screw on the SNP leader when he added: “On defence and on taxation, she wrotew: the less complex a tax system is, the better … you cannot tax your way to growth.”

Does that sound familiar? Will the First Minister look forward to reading her column in the weeks to come?”

The First Minister John Swinney replied: “I am always interested in lots of views that are expressed in political debate. I have to listen to them all, and it is not my fault if the BBC wants to put me on in a prime spot instead of Malcolm Offord.

“That perhaps speaks volumes, but I am sure that Mr Offord, listening down the line from the Reform-fest, where members of the public were being assaulted in the conference hall, would learn a lot from the dignity with which I expressed my case on Sunday morning.”

Malcolm Offord replied: “Turning to serious matters, Màiri McAllan has tried to dress up yet another disappointing set of programme for international student assessment—PISA—results as representing stability and as being competitive by international standards.

“Kate Forbes might say, “Continuity won’t cut it,” but I say that this is not even continuity—this is disastrous for our young people and embarrassing for our nation. To fall so far behind England in education is a national emergency. We invented education. The Scots have had universal education since 1660—the English only got there in 1873.

” In August 2016, Nicola Sturgeon asked to be judged on her record in education, especially on closing the attainment gap between pupils in poor and rich postcodes. Ten years on, the results are in. Scottish pupils are now a full academic year behind their English peers in science, and Scotland has scored its worst results ever in maths and reading. Meanwhile, England scored a top 10 place in all three disciplines. That is shocking.

“All the while, Honest John has been ever present. As finance minister, he presided over devastating college cuts. As education minister, he marked down 75,000 working-class kids during the pandemic. Now, as First Minister, he has reduced our great tradition in education from outstanding to average—the ruination of a once-proud nation.”

Pulled up for his remarks by Presiding Officer Kenneth Gibson, Malcolm Offord, who lives in West Dunbartonshire, added: “My question is this: is a free school bag the only gimmick left to this hapless First Minister?”

The First Minister replied: “I will tell Malcolm Offord what ruination looks like. It is people like him and Thomas Kerr going around spreading racist filth in our society. That is what ruination looks like.

“I accept the outcome of the PISA assessments, but they are one part of the data set for Scottish education. The curriculum for excellence levels data, which is produced by the teachers of Scotland, whom Malcolm Offord has just insulted, shows that the proportion of secondary 3 pupils achieving third level or better in literacy or numeracy is at its highest level ever.

“We have the highest level of young people leaving school and going to positive destinations, at 93.5 per cent. We have record levels of young people in Scotland going to university for the first time, including record numbers of young people from deprived backgrounds, according to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. At both national 5 and higher, pass rates were up compared with last year and also with the pre-pandemic situation, and the poverty-related attainment gap narrowed for national 5, higher and advanced higher.

“That is the full report card on Scottish education, and I am proud of Scottish education.”

Malcolm Offord hit back: “So, let us talk about the attainment gap. Màiri McAllan has been fulsome in her praise of recent exam results in Scotland. However, in 2026, 49 per cent of the S4 student cohort were not even entered in national 5 maths. That compares with 41 per cent in 2019, while student numbers have grown 12 per cent in the same period.

” The Scottish National Party might claim success for half the pupils who sit the exams, but those figures mask a systemic failure to narrow the attainment gap for all pupils. We must narrow the attainment gap by raising the floor, not by lowering the ceiling, and the bottom line is that standards are falling in Scottish schools.”

He added that during the Education and Gaelic Committee meeting, Patricia Gibson had argued that it may be “impossible” to close the attainment gap, as children are starting from very different standpoints.

“Is that really the stark reality of the SNP’s lack of ambition? First destroy an internationally admired gold standard of education and then give up? Reform will never let Scotland’s children down with that acceptance of mediocrity.

“Does the First Minister agree with Ms Gibson? Does he think that closing the attainment gap is really “impossible”? Has he given up on Scottish children?”

The First Minister responded: “The only person who should contemplate giving up is Malcolm Offord. If he had followed the presentation of the programme for government to Parliament last week, he would have seen at its heart the Government’s primary objective of eradicating child poverty.

That is the stated aim of the Government, and that is what we are taking a variety of measures to achieve. That is why we have lower levels of child poverty in Scotland, which I suspect is contributing to some of the achievements that we are making on narrowing the attainment gap in Scottish education.

“All the other policy measures that we have taken, such as expanding—more than doubling—the availability of early learning and childcare to ensure that children get the best start in life through their engagement with early learning, and the measures on book bug work for babies and families, ensuring that children and families have the opportunity to engage in literacy from the earliest possible stages, are justified by international evidence.

“Those are just some of the steps that the Scottish Government is taking to support families, to close the attainment gap and, most of all, to ensure that every child in our country has the best start in life. That is what children will get from an SNP Government.”

Meanwhile, commenting following Mairi McAllan’s BBC Sunday Show appearance, Scottish Labour education spokesperson Katherine Sangster said: “Parents will be deeply frustrated to hear yet more excuses from another SNP minister on Scotland’s falling education standards.

“Alarm bells have been ringing for years about the challenges our schools face, but the SNP show no ambition for our children and no curiosity about what has gone wrong.

“No-one will be convinced by Mairi McAllan’s TV appearance that the Scottish Government has fully grasped the scale of the issues that must be tackled.

“Pupils in Scotland are now behind their peers in England when it comes to reading, maths, and science tests.

“However, Mairi McAllan stubbornly refuses to even consider there are lessons to be learned from England.

“The SNP should be apologising to parents and pupils for their dismal failings, not offering up more excuses.”