The government was yesterday facing demands to apologise to Scottish students over the pre-election promise to "dump the debt" after new figures revealed that the total amount owed has passed the £2bn mark.

The government was yesterday facing demands to apologise to Scottish students over the pre-election promise to "dump the debt" after new figures revealed that the total amount owed has passed the £2bn mark.

Official statistics show the total debt owed by students at the end of the last financial year was £2.05bn, a rise of 11% on the previous year.

The figures, from the Student Loans Company, also revealed the total amount lent to higher education students during the financial year was £212m, a rise of 8% on the previous year.

The most glaring omission from the Scottish Government's Budget in November was the SNP's manifesto pledge that it was "time to dump student debt".

In May last year, the party's unequivocal and populist promise was to "remove the burden of debt" owed to the Student Loans Company by Scottish graduates.

However, John Swinney, the Finance Secretary, told the Scottish Parliament in November that no funding would be allocated for servicing the debt, blaming insufficient parliamentary support and a tight financial settlement.

Yesterday's figures were seized on by political opponents, with Claire Baker, education spokeswoman for the Scottish Labour Party, saying: "These figures are damning. The SNP's manifesto promised to dump the debt but these statistics show an increase of over £200m in the amount owed by students to the government."

Jeremy Purvis, education spokesman for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, demanded an apology from Fiona Hyslop, the Education Secretary.

"The SNP gave a promise to students in Scotland that they would write off student debt. The SNP owe Scottish students an apology," he said.

"They promised repeatedly that all student debt would be dumped, but after a year in office they are now presiding over an increase in the very student debt that they had promised to write off."

Murdo Fraser, education spokesman for the Scottish Conservative Party, also called for an apology, warning that the official figures did not include other student debts such as credit card bills and commercial loans.

"Despite all the pre-election promises from the SNP to wipe out student debt, these figures prove the debt burden affecting Scottish students continues to rise," he said.

"Of course, this is only part of the picture, as these figures do not cover borrowing on overdrafts, personal loans or credit cards, which in many cases will exceed the student loan debt. The SNP should apologise to Scottish students for misleading them with a policy which they had no intention of delivering."

Yesterday's figures showed that the Student Loans Company had a total of 370,000 borrowers at the end of the last financial year. Nearly three-quarters of these accounts were in the process of being repaid.

The average outstanding balance was £5550 - which includes students still at college, those who have finished their education but who have not yet made payments, and those who have been making payments for years.

The figures also showed the amount lent to students for graduate endowment loans last year was £14.4m, a rise of 19% on the previous year.