ASH Regan has defended putting her children through private school, saying she was “a mother first” and a politician second.

The SNP leadership candidate also said she expected “everyone to respect” her decision to take her twin sons out of the state sector.

The Edinburgh Eastern MSP was speaking as she launched her campaign to be the next SNP leader and first minister in North Queensferry.

She said: “A successful SNP can only be led from the left-of-centre in the mainstream of the Scottish political tradition.

“I used to work for Common Weal, which is a leading left-wing think tank.” 

In a media Q&A session, Ms Regan was asked about the importance of closing the educational attainment gap and how much credibility she had on state schools given she had sent her own children to private school.

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She said: “I've just said that I want to refocus on the priorities of the Scottish people.

“Education absolutely would be one of those. 

“I made the decision about my family circumstances before I got into politics.

“I'm a mother first, I'm a politician second, and I should expect everyone to respect that, as I would respect their choices for their families.”

The boys have now finished their education at Stewart’s Melville College in Edinburgh.

Ms Regan has faced criticism for her decision ever since she stood for Holyrood in 2016.

Criticised by an SNP supporters at a hustings that year in Portobello, she said: “They were in state schools for six years, so they were there for quite a long time.”

“When I started working in Edinburgh, as a working mother, without the wrap-around care that I needed, because I was living at that time in the Borders … I just couldn’t make it work.

“As a family, we decided to look at other alternatives.”

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She continued: “I went to a state school. My husband went to a state school. And my kids did go there prior to that.”

Peter McColl, the Scottish Green candidate at the hustings that evening panel, said: “I wouldn’t ever send children, if I had children, to a private school.”