Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Gordon Brown education speech at odds with No’s ‘more power’ pledge

Scottish party leaders Ruth Davidson, Johann Lamont and Willie Rennie have pledged more powers for Holyrood in the event of a No vote.
Scottish party leaders Ruth Davidson, Johann Lamont and Willie Rennie have pledged more powers for Holyrood in the event of a No vote.

Scotland’s unionist parties have united to guarantee more devolution for Scotland as Gordon Brown invoked the possibility of scrapping the country’s separate education system.

In a speech at Edinburgh University, the former Prime Minister cited “astonishing new surveys of young people” which find around half of Scottish 14 to 17-year-olds do not want to be part of a Scottish education system but want a merged UK system.

The Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath Labour MP said the results show young people are not a “nationalist generation” but a “networked generation”. Education has been devolved since the Scottish Parliament was established in 1999.

Mr Brown’s intervention appears to clash with a joint statement issued by Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont, Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie and Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson guaranteeing more powers to Scotland in the event of a No vote.

The statement pledges to strengthen the power of the Scottish Parliament further, in particular in the areas of fiscal responsibility and social security.

It said: “We believe Scotland should have a stronger Parliament while retaining full representation at Westminster.”

During a speech to 1,500 people at Edinburgh University, Mr Brown said: “Around half of Scottish 14 to 17-year-olds do not want to be part of an exclusively Scottish education system but want a UK system where ‘the curriculum and exams are the same for everyone in the UK’.

He added: “You might have expected the vast majority of Scots to support being part of an exclusively Scottish education system but it is actually between 47 and 52%.

“Scottish young people’s support for the same educational curriculum and exams across the UK is stronger than any poll would report for any group of adults, showing that young people are not the newly enfranchised ‘nationalist generation‘ of the independence movement’s dreams but a newly enfranchised and also newly empowered ‘networked generation’ happy to be seen as Scottish first but suspicious of being seen as exclusively Scottish.”

SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson said Mr Brown’s “bizarre” speech “makes the Yes case for us” because it would mean controversial UK Education Secretary Michael Gove would be in charge of Scottish policy and tuition fees for students.

He added: “The Yes campaign published a new poll today showing that only a third of people in Scotland trust the Westminster parties to deliver more powers and no wonder, when Gordon Brown is praising an idea that would actually strip the Scottish Parliament of powers!”