Siddique says it’s time to stop the cuts

The councillor, who herself is employed as a lecturer at Clyde College in the city, claims that due to the savage cuts overseen by the SNP government, that more than 140,000 further education places have been lost.

As a consequence of this she has now started a campaign to put an end to the constant attacks on college budgets, and calls for the SNP to invest in our youth instead.

Speaking to The Extra, Cllr Siddique said: “As a college lecturer I have seen the damage SNP cuts are doing to FE colleges - they are not only cutting the funding, they are cutting people’s life chances. it is documented that nearly seven million college learning hours have been cut.

There’s been a 40 per cent drop in the number of students enrolled in colleges with an astonishing 34,000 part time places lost in Glasgow’s colleges between 2008/9 and 2013/14. These aren’t my numbers, these are numbers coming from the Scottish Funding Council.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “This Government has a strong track record on colleges and recognises that they are vital to Scotland’s success. We have invested significantly in colleges since 2007, and are providing resource funding of £526 million to the sector in 2015-16.

“We have not just met our commitment to maintain 116,000 FTE student places, but exceeded it by placing more emphasis on full-time courses that lead to employment.”