Home News Scottish Labour candidate has education policy on his mind

Scottish Labour candidate has education policy on his mind

Phyllis Stephen

May 5, 2026 5:36 pm

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James Dalgleish is the Education Convener on The City of Edinburgh Council, so he wanted to talk about education policy as this is one of his areas of expertise.

After being elected to the council in 2022, he found himself appointed as the city’s Planning Convener.

Since then he has remained part of the executive group which runs the city’s administration as a minority.

He is standing as the Scottish Labour candidate in the Edinburgh Central constituency.

Dalgelish and his team have been out on the doors campaigning for months, and he said that during the campaign he has been welcomed by most people he has met – and even been asked out on a date.

He said: “Scottish Labour is going to make their communities better. People want to know a little bit about me personally, I think a lot of people are really interested in finding out who their local candidates are. They’re not just necessarily going to vote for a party but prefer to vote for a person. So actually there’s been very little hostility and I think people are keeping quite an open mind with quite a lot of people undecided as to how they’re going to vote.”

Council career

Mr Dalgleish agreed that he is a “fairly new” councillor, but said: “After four years in the council it doesn’t always feel like I am new because at the start of the council term I was kind of thrown into the deep end. It is still my first term having been a councillor for four years, but I’ve been planning convener for three years and then for almost one year the education convener so within that four years I have a lot of experience crammed in.”

As the city’s current Education Convener, he is of course equipped with a degree of specialist knowledge in that area – and it is one which Scottish Labour have talked a lot about.

James said: “Education is a huge issue for us, and I know it sounds a little bit philosophical, but I think when we get education right and we’re investing in our young people, then you are really investing in the future of Scotland and your communities.

“We know under the SNP for the last 20 years Scotland has dropped down international league tables, young people aren’t necessarily always getting the support that they need. For example in Edinburgh just under half of our young people, have some kind of additional support need.

“Scottish Labour is going to invest in 2,000 new teachers with a specific aim of bringing kids’ education back up to standard.”

There is a recognition that some young people have fallen behind particularly after the pandemic, but James thinks there is an answer – and it lies in increased numbers of teachers and pupil support assistants.

He explained that out of the 1,500 extra, 300 of them will specifically be appointed to help with additional support needs in specialist schools.

Planning Convener Cllr James Dalgleish ©2022 The Edinburgh Reporter

Smartphones

And he is very keen on the new policy to abolish smartphones from schools.

He said it is a pity that the government did not take the opportunity to introduce the policy when Scottish Labour presented it a few months ago in The Scottish Parliament.

He said: “We want to do that because we know ou rkids and young people have to have as few distractions as possible and actually build a better pupil/teacher relationship when teachers aren’t having to tell pupils to remove their phones.

“We’ve got many more plans – particularly when young people leave school it’s about giving them a good higher and further education if they want that.

“That means giving better multi-year funding settlements to our universities which we know are in a bit of trouble at the moment. But for those like myself who didn’t want to go to college or university. it is to make sure they’ve got a good skill or an apprenticeship to take them into the world of work or whatever else they want to do.”

As Cllr Dalgleish used to be the planning convener, we asked for his view on whether there should be any more student flats built in the capital.

He replied carefully: “So it’s a good question.

“I think there should be tougher regulations on Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA). I think I’ve been quite clear about it. When I was working on City Plan 2030, we did support policies in that to dilute the concentration of PBSAs and I think that was welcome.

“But I think this is an important point, I think we missed in the conversation, trying to improve the quality of PBSAs as well, because we know in the past there’s been a lot of poor quality purpose built student accommodation that’s been built. Students have gone into it and I think it has undoubtedly impacted their mental health and wellbeing.

“So when PBSA is constructed, it must be good quality, but I think we have to be focusing on housing.

Community Right of Appeal

“I think alongside that, I’ve been quite keen that we have a community right of appeal for planning applications.

“When I was planning convener, I pushed the Scottish Government on that and they said they weren’t willing to pick up on or support community right of appeal which I think is really disappointing. If planners or developers are able to appeal then I think the community should have that opportunity as well. So I know it’s a huge issue in housing and that pressure of housing is a real issue in Edinburgh Central too.

Within City Plan 2030, and obviously we’ll have the new Local Development Plan coming along soon, there was a recommendation put in as guidance to say, these PBSAs should be adaptable for the future.

“But as we both know, policy is strong, guidance is unfortunately less strong. So, that’s frustrating.”

He outlined the university policies to grow their numbers – for them it is all about growth and income. But he pondered how far that growth should go.

He suggested: “While we’ve got students, a lot of them sofa surfing, where we’ve got really big housing pressures and not enough land to even build the homes that we want, I think the university should be playing much more of a robust part in saying what does that mean?

“Should we always be aiming for growth as well in this sector? So think there’s a lot of questions for politicians, universities. A lot of people have got questions to answer in this.

Mr Dalgelish would hope to bring his “own personal experiences first and foremost” to Holyrood if he is elected, but not just as a politician.

He explained that he grew up in the north side of the city in Pilton where one of his first and clearest memories in school was finding used drug needles in the playground.

He said: “For me I look back on that and think has poverty and inequality gotten better or worse? I don’t think it’s got better, I think it’s become worse. I think about one of my parents who’s been waiting three years to get surgery on the NHS – and I know there’s so many residents in Scotland who are struggling on an NHS waiting list or can’t get a GP appointment.

“I think about a really close friend of mine who could be waiting years and years to potentially get an ADHD diagnosis or has to pay £1,000 to go private.

“For me my experience in council, I think is invaluable and it’s really helpful. But for me, it’s about those personal experiences of friends or families or potential future constituents, I think, is some of the most important and emotional issues to take to Parliament and try and get something done for them.”

He was sceptical of the SNP introducing GP walk-in clinics just ahead of the election, saying that was “a wee bit of a coincidence”.

He concluded: “What we need in the NHS if it comes to reform or investment are going to take a long time. For me it just feels a bit of politics playing in a way that you know these have just popped up just before an election I don’t think it’s really making a huge difference and yet the SNP have been planting it all over their election leaflets like it’s some big victory.

“I know from lots of people I’ve spoke to that it’s made no difference to them – they’re still having to wait for surgery, they’re still trying to get a GP appointment, or they’re still stuck on NHS waiting list so it feels like a wee bit like a gimmick. That’s no insult to the NHS workers or to our GPs or NHS staff who are doing a fantastic job under difficult circumstances.”

Candidates in Edinburgh Central