It is clear that the First Minister has no answer for parents, pupils and teachers in Glasgow, only obfuscation.

Let us look at John Swinney’s record. As finance secretary, he broke local finances and slashed the budget for local services. As education secretary, he abandoned teachers, standards declined, the attainment gap widened, Scotland fell in the international league tables and—shamefully—he downgraded the results of working-class children during the pandemic. Now, as First Minister, he is trapped by the past, defending his own record while Scotland’s children pay the price.

Scotland once had an education system that was the envy of the world. I believe that we can get there again, but continuity will not cut it. To give our young people the education and opportunities that they deserve and to unlock the huge potential of our nation, Scotland needs fresh leadership, new ideas and change, so after being at the heart of every single SNP failure for the past 17 years, why does John Swinney think that Scotland should accept more of the same?