A school building project that is expected to cost nearly four times its original value has become the focus of a row in the Dunfermline by-election.

Fife Council will pay back £412 million over the next 20 years for schools built in the last decade which had a capital value of £103.9 million, according to UK Treasury figures.

The contracts were signed by a former Labour council administration in 2003, and financed through the former Labour/Liberal Democrat Scottish Executive's preferred private finance initiative (PFI) model which spread the payments to private-sector contractors over decades at an additional cost. The SNP commissioned a review of the projects during its term in power in Fife in 2011 which found that projects "did indicate value for money and affordability".

With a by-election looming to replace disgraced former SNP MSP Bill Walker, the cost of school building in Fife has returned to the fore.

SNP candidate Shirley-Anne Somerville has described the £412 million bill as "disastrous", but her Labour opponent Cara Hilton has questioned why the SNP approved a report which labelled them as "value for money".

Ms Somerville said: "Under the SNP administration, schools were built in Dunfermline without a penny of PFI/PPP debt.

Ms Hilton said: "This is a remarkable attack from the SNP. "Their own review showed these buildings provided value for money. Not one SNP councillor objected to that conclusion."