Highland Council’s decision to delay its unpopular proposal to cut the length of the primary school day for one year has been described as a “cynical” political ploy by an Independent member.
Councillor Jim Crawford claimed the move by the local authority’s administration was to delay this highly controversial budget cut until after the next General Election.
He described the proposal to reduce the school day by 30 minutes for Primary 4 – 7 pupils to save £3-4million per year as “a cut too far” and said it should be scrapped rather than postponed.
The council’s budget leader Councillor Maxine Smith this week announced that it was delaying the proposal to allow “more time to review all the implications and any national recommendations before proceeding”.
But Mr Crawford believes it is because the SNP intends to field a candidate against Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey MP Danny Alexander at the General Election and cutting the school day in the face of intense public opposition would not help its cause.
The Inverness South member said: “I am quite angry and disappointed in the way this has been handled. They say they are delaying it to allow more time for consideration, when they are simply delaying it to get past the Westminster election.
“The SNP will be putting up a candidate – Drew Hendry is one of the possible candidates – and I’m pretty sure it has been put off until the second year so he, or whoever stands for the SNP, can’t be accused of what has turned out to be the most contentious issue since I became a councillor in 2007.
“It is a very cynical move and they shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it.”
Mr Crawford added that the proposal should be dropped and that, instead of the cuts being proposed, the council should raise additional funding by increasing council tax by £2 to £3 per week.
Council leader Drew Hendry said: “The decisions we are making around the budget are based on the responses from the consultation.
“They are about what we have to do and nothing else.
“The fact that we are in administration with the Liberal Democrats and Labour makes Jim Crawford’s assertion daft and nonsensical.”
The four people currently in the running to be the SNP’s prospective parliamentary candidate for the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey constituency are Councillor Drew Hendry, Councillor Ken Gowans, Councillor Liz MacDonald and Ron MacWilliam.