Embarrassment as Labour Wipe Out Entire Education Policy

Scorn has been heaped upon Labour as it emerged that the entire education section of their website has been hastily deleted and replaced with an error message following the abandonment of the promise Labour previously made to students not to introduce tuition fees.

It was revealed at the final First Minister's Questions of the parliamentary term that despite having abandoned the promise Labour had previously given to students not to return to tuition fees, the commitment was still prominently placed on Labour in Scotland's website.

Now the party has faced further humiliation as in the rush to erase all evidence of their promise to oppose tuition fees, the entire education section of the website has simply been replaced with an error message.

The move to distance the party from its previous commitment to Scotland's students puts an end to any doubt that Labour intends to abandon the pledge and makes a mockery of claims that the outcome of Labour's Cuts Commission has not been pre-determined.

Recently released figures from UCAS showed that while there had been a 1% rise in the number of students accepted to study in Scotland, the same figure had fallen in England by 26,273.

Commenting, SNP MSP George Adam who sits on the Education and Culture Committee said:

“It seems that Johann Lamont's adoption of policies straight from Nick Clegg's handbook has caught her party out, as first their website was embarrassingly wrong and now their education policy has been wiped out entirely.

“There can no longer be any doubt that now they have taken this step that Labour is committing itself to breaking its pledge to students.

“Where once there was a banner proclaiming Labour would fight for what really matters, today there is simply a message that says 'error'.

“Ironically that 'error' message is entirely appropriate, as moving towards a system that hammers students in Scotland and drives people away from college and university is entirely wrong.

“With student numbers plummeting south of the border thanks to the sharp rise in tuition fees there, returning to a system of fees would do untold damage to the opportunities available for potential students in Scotland.

“It is only the SNP that remains utterly committed to the principle that education should be based on the ability to learn, not the ability to pay and clearly it is only the SNP that will continue to stand up for students in Scotland.”

Notes: A cached version of the education section of Labour in Scotland's website can be viewed at http://webcache.googleusercontent.com and shows the party's commitment to oppose tuition fees.

However, accessing the same section normally at http://www.scottishlabour.org.uk/education today simply returns "Page Not Found - error 404".