Swinney is “scared of school kids” as he skips young people’s event

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today said that John Swinney is scared of facing questions from school kids as the First Minister prepares to skip a Royal Society of Edinburgh event in Dumfries.

All Scottish party leaders were invited to the RSE’s Young People’s Signature Event: Making Sense of Politics taking place today, Monday 3 November 2025.

The event is hosted by The Royal Society of Edinburgh, in partnership with Young Scot, The Scottish Youth Parliament, and Youthwork Dumfries and offers pupils the opportunity to engage directly with politicians, explore the issues that matter to them, and hear from inspiring youth voices.

John Swinney is not attending.

In her recent book, Nicola Sturgeon admitted that falling performance in international education league tables was “undeniable” and that she “did not succeed in all that I set out to do on school education”.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

“I think it is so important to encourage young people to engage with politics and I am sure they will ask me plenty of tough questions.

“I would happily debate John Swinney anywhere, anytime on any topic because his record over the last 18 years has been so dire. Even Nicola Sturgeon admits that the SNP have not succeeded on education.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats want to offer hope for Scotland’s young people. We’re focused on cutting mental health waits, delivering more pupil support assistants to tackle violence and upheaval in schools and tackling Scotland’s climate emergency

“No matter where you live, you can get a Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP who believes in change with fairness at its heart, if you back us on the peach regional vote. That’s as true in the South of Scotland as it is across the country.

“C’mon John, why are you running scared of school kids?”