WHEN Labour politicians from south of the Border butt in on Scottish politics, it doesn’t tend to go well.
Just ask Keir Starmer, who endeared himself to Scots in June by saying it would be “wrong” for them to decide their own future.
In February, Lisa Nandy showcased her expertise on all things Scottish by suggesting the country could look to Catalonia for lessons on how to beat "divisive nationalism".
A month earlier, Jess Phillips did likewise by saying her party should concentrate on "things that actually people talk about on the doorstep”, clarifying that that does not include constitutional matters.
Joining the list of English Labour MPs with an astonishing depth of knowledge about Scottish affairs is Angela Rayner.
READ MORE: Senior Scottish Labour activist urges party to expel independence backers
Such is her wisdom that she felt comfortable lecturing the First Minister on the SNP’s “failure on education”.
Nicola Sturgeon had explained the reasoning behind the SQA’s decision to lower teacher’s marks for some pupils in line with previous years’ exam results.
READ MORE: Fury at SQA as most-deprived pupils’ exam results downgraded
Responding, Labour’s deputy leader tweeted: “Like Boris Johnson, Nicola Sturgeon would rather blame front line key workers than accept the SNP failure on education. They wanted the powers and with power comes responsibility.”
Like Boris Johnson, Nicola Sturgeon would rather blame front line key workers than accept the SNP failure on education. They wanted the powers and with power comes responsibility. https://t.co/60TprYGTh1
— 🌈 Angela Rayner 🌈 (@AngelaRayner) August 5, 2020
Aside from the somewhat shaky comparison between the Prime Minister and the First Minister – not known for their similarities – there was one major flaw with the Labour MP’s claim.
It seems the former shadow education secretary hasn’t got a clue what she’s talking about when it comes to education in Scotland, which has always been separate from systems used in the rest of the UK.
University of Glasgow Ewan Gibbs set the record straight.
Angela Rayner seemingly unaware that Scottish education has been independent for hundreds of years. Good luck to any unitary British nationalist willing to fight public opinion, the EIS and the hallowed ghost of John Knox on that one. https://t.co/wCwMBFwKXe
— Ewan Gibbs (@ewangibbs) August 5, 2020
The most damning critique of all, however, came from Twitter user Jon Dalton. He wrote: “Labour supporter and teacher here. Wrong to criticise Sturgeon over this. Inflating grades was always going to happen in this instance and this protects integrity of the system, otherwise these results look exceptional and other year group suffer in comparison.”
It’s time these Labour politicians did their homework on Scotland.
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