THE headteacher of a Scottish secondary school has hit out at LibDem leadership candidate Jo Swinson over “shameful inaccuracies” about her pupils.

Govan High School head Nancy Belford branded the East Dunbartonshire MP “ill-informed” over claims made on BBC show Question Time.

Speaking from Epsom in Surrey, Swinson told the audience: “I represent a very middle-class, affluent constituency and in one of the towns 80% of young children go on to university. Five or six miles down the road in Glasgow Govan it’s 4%.

“Now that’s not because of tuition fees, because we don’t have them in Scotland, that’s because of the lack of investment or aspiration of young people that don’t even grow up thinking that’s an option for them. That’s where we need to focus that early years intervention if we really want to tackle inequality.”

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But the comment provoked outrage, with local MSP Humza Yousaf urging her to apologise for the “slur”, Education Secretary John Swinney calling it “an appalling insult to the pupils and staff” and Maureen McKenna, Glasgow City Council’s director of education, taking to Twitter to tell Swinson “how wrong you are”.

While 2016’s Scottish Index on Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) – the most recent of its kind – put the level of 17-21-year-olds in the Govan and Linthouse area at between zero and 4%, the most recent Education Scotland report praised improvement in attainment across Glasgow.

And the city council’s most recent School Leaver Destination Return, from August, showed stronger results for those entering higher education, which includes college.

Contacting Swinson on Twitter, Belford praised her pupils – and said university is not the only marker of success. She said: “As HT deeply concerned with the shameful inaccuracies made by @joswinson regarding GHS destinations. 94% of our young people into positive destinations, 25% into HE of which 13% went to university.

“As a school we have the highest aspirations for all of our young people. We are proud of and value all of the positive destinations to which our young people progress. It’s ill informed perceptions like @joswinson that harm our community.”

But, doubling down on her comments, Swinson said: “It is a fact that many more young people in Bearsden go to university than go from Govan. The Scottish Government’s own statistics bear that out. Closing the attainment gap is supposed to be the SNP’s priority. They should be ashamed.

“Barriers in the system are preventing young people from having equal opportunities in life, regardless of their postcode.

“This journey starts with early education and it is the best investment government can make to transform a child’s life chances.”

Govan councillor Richard Bell, chair of Glasgow City Council’s education committee, told The National: “There are a whole series of issues wrong with what Jo Swinson said. I absolutely agree what’s required is early intervention to support young people, but that’s what we have been doing in Glasgow for over 10 years – and it’s not fair to compare us with East Renfrewshire because their starting point was very different than ours.

“Nancy Belford has transformed the school and we should be talking about that.

“The whole attitude is very outdated, this is the wrong point to be making. University is not the answer for everybody. There are lots of young people being successful through apprenticeships and jobs.

“People are annoyed and angry. It’s disappointing that someone of Jo Swinson’s standing has chosen to pick on one area to make a point.”