FORMER First Minister Jack McConnell has accused the SNP government of "an act of vandalism" in slashing funding for his flagship volunteering charity Project Scotland.
The organisation, which has helped more than 1000 young people off benefits by offering them full-time volunteer placements, has been told its cash will be cut from £6.5m to £1.4m next year.
In his first Holyrood speech as a backbencher, Mr McCon
nell said: "It will be an act of vandalism that the Government will regret.
"The decision is based either on ignorance or on a politically vindictive streak, which we have occasionally suspected exists."
And he appealed for a change of heart by his successor Alex Salmond, pointing out that President George W Bush had agreed to a special request from Bill Clinton to keep the AmeriCorps scheme, which had helped inspire Project Scotland.
"If, in the partisan world of American politics, consensus can be reached to put young Americans first, surely we in Scotland, at the start of the 21st century, can do the same."
Project Scotland encourages 16-25 year-olds to take up full-time voluntary work in the community on placements, usually for a minimum of three months.
Labour backbencher Bill Butler said it had been an outstanding success, bringing tangible benefits to local communities and organisations and allowing young people to develop new skills.
But Enterprise Minister Jim Mather told MSPs: "We are not punishing Project Scotland and we do not have a politically vindictive streak."
He said the original idea of 50-50 funding from the private sector and the government had never been achieved.
The full article contains 278 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
