Monday February 9th 2026
Scottish Labour candidate for Midlothian North, Caitlin Stott
This View has been written by Caitlin Stott, Scottish Labour Candidate for the Midlothian North Constituency in the Scottish Elections in May.
Midlothian Council needs to introduce a full ban on mobile phones in all school classrooms. This matters to me as a mum, and because I know what it’s like when school stops being a safe place.
I was bullied badly at school. It made me realise that some places that should have been safe, just weren’t. The feeling never really leaves you.
But when I was at school, there were no mobile phones. As awful as it was, there were some places I could at least escape to. Classrooms and teachers I trusted were my refuge. When break times or lunch felt too dangerous, learning itself was my safe place. How much worse it could have been if that bullying had followed me home, into my bedroom, and into every corner of my life.
What I remember most is the powerlessness. The feeling that nothing I did could make it stop. That the people who loved me, my mum and dad, couldn’t protect me either. I have never felt so alone – My kids should never have to feel like that. And I’m determined to do anything and everything I can to spare kids in Midlothian from feeling like I did all those years ago.
It’s why I’m fighting to make sure Midlothian Council goes further on mobile phones in schools. Giving individual schools the option to ban phones is a start, but it’s not enough. We need the Council to give a clear statement of intent that the classrooms they are responsible for are places where children learn and grow safely, without social media, bullying and online pressure following them through the door.
Phones don’t just distract from learning. They magnify harm. They increase cyberbullying and remove any sense of refuge children might have. Worse still, they expose children to adults who can manipulate, groom and exploit them.
It’s also why I support Scottish Labour, and Anas Sarwar’s, call to ban social media for under-16s. I’m asking Midlothian’s councillors to look at this not just as a policy choice, but as a promise to our children and their parents that their classrooms are always safe places. I’ve launched a petition calling for a ban on mobile phones in all Midlothian classrooms. You can add your voice here: https://survey.labour.org.uk/phones-in-school.
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