David Torrance: University barriers a hard fact for SNP to accept

The Herald’s columnist David Torrance made reference to Access in Scotland in a comment piece arguing that access barriers in Scotland are often difficult to accept.

“There was an exchange at Holyrood last week which, to me, summed up the often through-the-looking-glass nature of Scottish politics and, in particular, what passes for policy debate.

Responding to the First Minister’s statement on her programme for government, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson referred to the SNP’s policy of no tuition fees as having “seen poorer Scots less able to walk through the front gate of a university than those who live anywhere else in the United Kingdom”.

At this point John Swinney got very agitated. Although it doesn’t appear in the Official Report, from the press gallery I could hear the new Education Secretary shout “that’s not true!” over and over again in Ms Davidson’s direction.

But as we learned a couple of days later when the Sutton Trust published its latest report – “Access to higher education for people from less advantaged backgrounds in Scotland” – it was true, indeed it’s an inconvenient truth that ought to shame any administration committed to tackling educational inequality.”

Read his full piece here.