Anas Sarwar accepts ‘fair’ criticism of decision to send his children to private school

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has said he accepts criticism of his family’s decision to send their children to private school.

Asked whether he was a hypocrite for having his own children privately educated while his party’s stance is that private schools promote inequality, Sarwar said he had been called worse and it was a “fair criticism”.

He added that there were “different forms of inequality and prejudice” that his children would face that other children won’t, but he still accepted the criticism about the choices he’d made for his own children’s education.

The Labour leader came under fire at a press briefing as he launched Scottish Labour’s manifesto, which includes a policy commitment to end the charitable status of fee-paying schools “as a contribution towards achieving a more socially just and inclusive society”.

Pushed on whether he supported the policy, Sarwar said: “I've supported this policy ever since Kez Dugdale was leader and it was first proposed and we included it in our manifesto, and I proudly support it now.

“I'm open about the about the fair question and the fair criticism that people make around the decision that my wife and I made for our children.

“Every parent wants to do what's best for their children, but I want every child to have opportunity and that's why we put our education comeback plan at the heart of this manifesto.”