THE key councillor behind planned school closures in Edinburgh has been branded a "hypocrite" after it emerged she sent her children to a private school.
Liberal Democrat Marilyne MacLaren, who oversees the capital's education system, did not use the state sector when her own children were of school age.
Labour MSP George Foulkes has said the councillor should be banned from taking any decisions on local authority schools.
The SNP-LibDem ruling coalition in Edinburgh nearly split last year after the Nationalists refused to back plans to close 22 schools across the city.
Both parties have since set up a group to look at the "rationalisation" of the school estate, and have also backed a consultation on shutting three schools in Bonnington, Lismore and Westburn.
Parents and campaigners are angry that poor budgeting by the local authority is resulting in state schools getting the chop.
And the axing of comprehensive schools across the capital is likely to run into further problems following the revelation that the city's school chief did not use her own council's schools service.
MacLaren, who has been the focal point of the campaigners' criticism, sent her two daughters to private school in Edinburgh at a time when she was establishing her reputation as a councillor.
Her children attended a school in the independent sector when MacLaren was a councillor on Lothian Region Council and then on Edinburgh City Council.
One council source said: "It makes her look out of touch."
When contacted by the Sunday Herald, MacLaren declined to name the school attended by her daughters, and hit out at her political opponents for making her personal choices a political issue.
"It is pure mischief-making and a witch-hunt for this to be raised," she said. "I have never hidden this fact at all. Labour politicians sometimes send their children to private schools and use private healthcare. As long as you are open about it, then it is not hypocrisy."
It had also been suggested that Steve Cardownie, the SNP leader on Edinburgh City Council, was also currently using private schools for his children's education.
However, while Cardownie confirmed that one of his sons is attending a school in the independent sector, he said it was a decision made by his ex-wife, who now lives in England.
"I was against it and I don't pay for it," he added.
A number of politicians, including former prime minister Tony Blair and Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman, have been criticised in recent years for their decisions on schooling issues.
And Dianne Abbott, a left-wing Labour MP in London, was condemned after it emerged she was sending her son to a private school.
It is not the first time the LibDems in Edinburgh have been accused of hypocrisy. The party's councillors voted against the previous administration's plan for a congestion charge in the capital, despite the national party backing such tolls.
Labour MSP George Foulkes said: "This is total hypocrisy. I think councillors who do not use local authority schools should be banned from taking decisions on local education issues, as they do not have any direct interest in them. People will be sick when they hear about this."
And Colin Fox, a spokesman for the Scottish Socialist Party, said: "Marilyne MacLaren is a hypocrite for sending her own children to a private school and then closing state schools.
"By her own actions, she is undermining the state sector in Edinburgh. It is an absolute affront."
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