Commenting on the young Scots fund announced today by the SNP, Liberal Democrat Finance spokesperson Jeremy Purvis said:

“If the SNP’s headline manifesto promise is only to fill the gap from their cuts in the November budget, there will be despair from Scotland’s colleges over what the next 5 years hold under SNP plans.

“This so called fund will only fill the gap in one year’s cuts in the college budget made by the SNP Government in this coming year’s Scottish budget.

“The reduction in the college budget is hugely disproportionate and much deeper than the over all reduction in the Scottish block grant.

“The announcement today will be met with real anger by the college lecturers who have been made compulsorily redundant and learners whose courses have been cancelled as a result of SNP disproportionate cuts.

“When the Liberal Democrats launched our manifesto, we committed to a substantial new investment in further and higher education, recognising the debt of the SNP cuts.”