John Swinney faces questions after teachers back strike action

First Minister John Swinney is facing questions from MSPs after Scotland’s largest teaching union backed strike action.

The ballot of members of Scotland’s largest teaching union saw 85% vote in favour of a walkout and 93% in favour of action short of striking.

EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said teachers had waited five years for manifesto promises made by the Scottish Government before the last Holyrood election.

“With no real sign of delivery of those promises on reducing excessive teacher workload by recruiting 3,500 additional teachers while tackling teacher unemployment and zero-hours contracts, and reducing teachers’ maximum class contact time to 21 hours per week, teachers’ patience is clearly now at an end,” she said.

“We hope that this ballot result will finally propel the Scottish Government and COSLA into action and serious negotiation to bring the dispute to an end after more than a year.”

No dates for strike action have been set. The EIS executive committee will meet on Thursday to consider next steps.