Following confirmation that Principal Teachers in the county’s primary schools will not be cut, East Lothian Labour councillor and Education Spokesperson Shamin Akhtar has slammed the SNP opposition for their persistent misleading claims on the issue.

Cllr Shamin Akhtar said:

“Local SNP councillors have spent the last couple of months telling anyone who’ll listen that we are cutting Principal Teachers in primary schools. That simply isn’t true. Thanks to the valuable feedback we have received from parents and schools we’ve managed to find a way to keep Principal Teachers in post, while also making savings at the same time.

“The irony of the SNP’s misleading attacks is that while they were in office they axed Principal Teachers in secondary schools without even bothering to consult anyone. This is the latest in a series of scaremongering claims on education and children from East Lothian SNP. They said we were going to end Place2Be funding in local schools and we didn’t. They said we were going to close rural schools and we haven’t.

“By continually ‘crying wolf’ councillors MacKenzie and Currie have destroyed any shred of credibility they had on education. I believe local people are fed up with SNP councillors trying to play politics with their children’s education. Hopefully they will think more carefully in future about the impact their misleading claims have on local parents and children.”