A CONSERVATIVE MSP from Greenock gave a scathing speech at Holyrood slamming the SNP government’s education record.

Jamie Greene cited numerous metrics as he argued that Scottish pupils were being outperformed by their peers in similar countries.

The parliament debate followed the release of the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results last week.

The results showed that Scotland has slipped behind its UK and international counterparts, attracting widespread criticism from across the political divide.

Mr Greene, previously the shadow education minister, also highlighted problems with class sizes and teacher numbers and the poverty related attainment gap.

He said: “In 2019 the gap between the least and most deprived pupils achieving a pass rate in their National Fives was 17 per cent. By 2023 that gap had shrunk, but only to 15.6 per cent. At the current rate it will take 56 years to close the attainment gap.

“Scottish pupils, parents, and teachers have been failed by over a decade of broken SNP promises on education. They deserve much better than this.”