�Paradox� of SNP donor By Paul Hutcheon
THE SNP's most prominent donor has become the latest Scottish tycoon to help fund the school system in England.
Stagecoach, the bus company owned by Brian Souter, has ploughed £500,000 into a city academy in Grimsby - the firm is unable to make a similar investment in a Scottish school as city academies have been blocked north of the Border.
The city academy scheme, a flagship education policy of the Labour government, allows firms and entrepreneurs to take charge of schools in exchange for a fee.
Lord Laidlaw, a Conservative Party donor, wanted to fund a Scottish school on a similar basis when Jack McConnell was first minister, but was thwarted after the Labour-led administration blocked plans for city academies. Laidlaw instead diverted around £1 million of his personal fortune into a school in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
It has now emerged that Brian Souter, who gave the SNP's Holyrood election campaign last year a huge boost with a donation of £500,000, is using his firm to fund a city academy in Grimsby.
Stagecoach's accounts reveal that the transport company is funding the Oasis Academy Wintringham, a school catering for 1100 pupils.
The school - which opened in September last year, replacing Wintringham School and is due to move into new buildings in January - is run by Christian group Oasis Community Learning (OCL) as a city academy.
OCL paid £2m to help run the school in Grimsby, a project boosted by £500,000 from Stagecoach, which went towards the building of a gymnasium.
The Souter Charitable Trust (SCT), which is the tycoon's personal vehicle for good causes, is also making funds available to the Oasis Trust, an integral part of the Oasis stable that co-ordinates its Christian work.
SCT accounts reveal that £125,000 has already been provided to the Oasis Trust, with another £250,000 put aside for the future. OCL is now responsible for nine city academies across the UK.
A clue as to why Souter is offering financial support to the Wintringham academy is found in the school board's sex and relationships policy, which states: "The Oasis Community Learning Board will not permit the promotion of homosexuality."
Souter, a member of the Church of the Nazarene, rose to prominence in 2000 when he personally funded a campaign to oppose the abolition of Section 28, legislation that outlawed the promotion of homosexuality.
The then Labour-led Scottish Executive, as well as the SNP, backed repeal of the law on the grounds that it was discriminatory.
The SNP government, in common with the previous Labour-led administration, is opposed to importing the city academy scheme to Scotland.
An Oasis spokesman said: "We were involved in raising the money in partnership with the local authority and the education department. Stagecoach were also part of the partnership."
A spokesman for Stagecoach said: "Every year we reinvest part of our profits to help a wide range of projects in communities where we operate our public transport services.
"Our support is helping to fund a gym that will benefit hundreds of children in the community. Any specific school policies would be a matter for the academy."
Labour MSP George Foulkes said: "This shows there is a whole load of paradoxes about Souter's support for the SNP. He is supporting a Scottish Nationalist party, but backing this sort of school in England.
"I just don't understand how ordinary SNP members can support having him as their principal backer."
