Viceroy Murray would rather score political points than relieve child poverty

Published in the Edinburgh Evening News and The National, August 12th, 2024.

Viceroy Murray gleefully tweeted that Scotland’s educational “attainment is at its lowest ever level, and the gap between rich and poor at its highest.” 

He attached a graph that he should have studied more carefully because it shows the overall Higher pass rate in 2024 - 74.9% - to be virtually identical to the 2019 rate - 74.8%. The same holds true for the most deprived - a pass rate of 65% in 2024 and 65.3% in 2019. 

He should also recall the overall Higher pass rate under a Scottish Labour administration, which was 3-4% lower:

2004 - 70.7%

2005 - 71.2%

2006 - 70.8%

2007 - 71.7%

Murray ignores the significant progress made on narrowing attainment gaps at the primary school level. The Achievement for Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL) 2021/22 reported that poverty-related attainment gaps in literacy and numeracy saw the largest decreases since records began in 2016/17, and there was also a record rise in the proportion of pupils achieving the expected literacy and numeracy levels. 

Finally, Murray should be reminded that Scotland’s people are the most educated not only in Europe but also the UK. In 2019, 50.4% of 25-61-year-olds in Scotland were educated to degree level compared with 44.7% in the UK overall.

Rather than politicising Scottish education, Mr Murray should focus on reducing child poverty, the root cause of the attainment gap. An excellent start would be to demand that Rachel Reeves lift the two-child benefit cap. Then he should advocate for greater borrowing powers for Holyrood. And if he really had Scotland’s interests at heart, he’d support, not thwart, the Scottish People’s right to govern themselves.