East Renfrewshire Council is being “ripped off to the tune of £13million” as it continues to pay for private finance deals used to replace or upgrade schools, Barrhead’s MSP has claimed.

Six out of the 32 schools across East Renfrewshire are tied into private finance initiative (PFI) or public private partnership (PPP) schemes.

However, Renfrewshire South MSP Tom Arthur said the “wretched” contracts are eating into the amount of money council chiefs can spend on education.

He pointed out that research from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) has found the amount being forked out by East Renfrewshire Council is 11% of its education resource funding, meaning “millions are being wasted” on the contracts.

Mr Arthur told the Barrhead News: “The rotten PFI contracts were introduced by the Tories but supercharged by the Labour-led Scottish Government and unnecessarily cost councils across Scotland, including East Renfrewshire.

“It is incredible that the lasting legacy of Labour governments continues to be felt as schools’ budgets are eaten up significantly by these wretched contracts.

“The SNP scrapped PFI contracts, meaning that money can be spent on Scotland’s young people and not on absurdly expensive contracts.”

In response, a spokesperson for East Renfrewshire Council said: “The annual payments made by the council cover the costs of building the new school facilities and maintaining them in good condition over the 25-year contract term.

“The council receives £5.2million each year in government grants towards the annual costs.

“Before finalising the contracts, the terms and conditions were independently audited by major external accountancy firms to ensure these represented best value to the council.”