SCOTTISH education secretary Jenny Gilruth has called an “emergency meeting” with councils and unions after teachers overwhelmingly backed strike action over workloads today.

EIS, Scotland’s largest teaching union, called the ballot over the SNP government’s failure to deliver on a key pledge to cut class contact time made in its 2021 manifesto.

An emphatic 85 per cent voted to strike, raising the prospect — just nine weeks ahead of the Holyrood elections — of a national walkout.

Welcoming the mandate, EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said: “For five long years, teachers have been waiting for manifesto promises, made by the current Scottish government prior to the last Holyrood election, on tackling teacher workload to come to fruition.

“With no real sign of delivery of those promises on reducing excessive teacher workload by recruiting 3,500 additional teachers while tackling teacher unemployment and zero-hours contracts, and reducing teachers’ maximum class contact time to 21 hours per week, teachers’ patience is clearly now at an end.

“We are long past the time when these promises made to Scotland’s teachers should have been kept, honoured and delivered by the Scottish government and local authority employers.”

In response, Ms Gilruth announced she would convene an emergency meeting between government, councils and unions in a bid to stave-off a strike, stating: “It is imperative we reach an agreed position on how to free up teachers’ time, and improve outcomes for Scotland’s children.

“The Scottish government is willing to take important steps to prevent industrial action, including agreeing to additional new investment to support councils with additional staffing costs and finding agreement on the use of time and phased implementation to ensure the right balance is struck for teacher workload.”