John Swinney was accused of utilising the "same old excuses" as he refused to answer a question four times about whether he will live up to a SNP promise of adding 3,500 extra teachers. He warned that the country faced a "very significant financial pressures in Scotland in our public finances."
The new First Minister faced his first FMQs since being parachuted in to replace Humza Yousaf and described how the last two weeks was a "traumatic" time for the party. However, he parroted the same lines about "success" the nationalists have had in education, as his "indefensible" record as Education Secretary was highlighted.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross highlighted the hundreds of teacher jobs being cut by cash-strapped SNP-led Glasgow City Council, and asked Mr Swinney to dissuade fears that the flagship teacher vow would be dropped four times but was rebuffed each time.
The new First Minister even used the excuse that he had only been in the job "48 hours" for failing to answer questions about the state of schools and education in Scotland. Mr Ross called him out for offering the "same old excuses" as his predecessors.
He said: "John Swinney’s record in education is one of broken promises. He introduced a flagship education bill that could have improved standards - then abandoned it. He promised a free laptop for every child - that hasn’t happened. Three years ago, the SNP said Education Scotland would be reformed - nothing has happened. The government he served in promised the SQA would be replaced - but it’s still here.
"John Swinney served as education secretary from 2016 to 2021. During that time, education was supposed to be the SNP’s top priority. They wanted to be judged on their education record. When John Swinney was in charge of Scotland’s schools, results fell to record lows in the OECD’s PISA rankings. These tests measured performance for maths, reading and science.
"John Swinney is not being straight with the public on whether he agrees or not with his own promise to increase teacher numbers. But we know already they are falling under this SNP Government. For 16 years, John Swinney has been at the heart of a government that has let down pupils, parents and teachers. Now he’s the head of the government, what’s going to change?"
Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie also blasted his former coalition partners for bringing in Kate Forbes to the government, claiming that many LGBT people were now worried due to this. He also urged him to continue with "progressive taxation" rather than dropping income tax rises.
Mr Swinney claimed that he was not fully on top of the issues due to not "being on the front bench for 12 months or so." But his excuses were called out by rival politicians.
Scottish Tory MSP Murdo Fraser wrote: "don’t see the line from @johnswinney that he’s only been FM ‘for 48 hours’ working as a defence, when he’s been in this Government for 16 out of the last 17 years." Jamie Halcro Johnston added: "When failing to answer straightforward Yes/No questions from @Douglas4Moray, 'I’ve only been FM for a few days' excuses himself an FM who’s been a key figure in the SNP government for 16 of the last 17 years. It’s desperate stuff.
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