Robert Brown welcomes reversal of College funding cuts

The decision by the Scottish Parliament to increase the funding available to local Colleges in the Scottish Government’s budget has been welcomed by local Liberal Democrats.

The SNP Government had proposed to cut a swingeing £40 million from the money going to Scotland’s Colleges – at a time when high quality skills are needed more than ever before to help young people into employment.

After a major campaign by the Scottish Liberal Democrats, working with the National Union of Students and thousands of students across Scotland, the Scottish Government were forced to accept the case and the SNP cuts have been substantially reversed.

Robert Brown, Rutherglen Liberal Democrat spokesman, said:

“Liberal Democrats were able to secure more support for students, for Colleges, for new homes and for helping children from disadvantaged backgrounds. This was a good result in difficult times.

The Scottish Government were helped by additional funding allocated to Scotland by the UK Coalition Government and I am glad it has been used to good effect.

It was a pretty shortsighted move by the SNP Government to cut College funding in the first place. It would have harmed the chances of students to get places at local Colleges like Langside College and East Kilbride College, as well as in other parts of Scotland. At a time like this, we need all the support for further education we can get.”