Scotland's Education Secretary last took the extraordinary step last night of issuing a robust “grow up” message to the country's students after they accused the government at Holyrood of betraying manifesto pledges.

Fiona Hyslop, in a statement issued through an aide, told the students at Scotland's universities and colleges that their complaints were “politically ill-judged” and that they would forfeit any sympathy from families hit by the economic downturn.

The row marked a new low in the relationship between the Scottish government and the country's student body, which says it is incensed by the SNP administration's retreat from promises made during the 2007 election campaign to abolish student debt and introduce grants to replace loans. Ms Hyslop, who has been under parallel pressure in recent weeks from teaching unions over the failure to deliver on pledges on primary class sizes and teacher numbers, signalled in her uncompromising message to the students that she is prepared now to take on her critics.

The increasing acrimony between the minister and the students emerged when student presidents from 16 Scottish universities and colleges said in an open letter that the SNP had failed their members by not addressing long-standing issues of debt and hardship.

The letter, also signed by politicians from all the major opposition parties as well as Gurjit Singh, the president of NUS Scotland, stated: “We believe the Scottish government ... has let down students and failed to listen or react to their needs.

“We call on the Scottish government to address student hardship, to address students' reliance on commercial credit, and to increase funding for hardship and childcare funds.

“This letter should act as a wake-up call for Scotland. The Scottish government must take a new direction and we stand ready to work with you to help students through this difficult time.”

The letter reflected growing resentment amongst students over a number of manifesto pledges made by the SNP before the last election but which were not honoured.

Student leaders believe that the SNP pledges were misleading, especially since they convinced many students to support the Nationalists and helped the party into power for the first time in Scotland.

The SNP made £30million available to improve financial support for students - a figure said to be well short of what was required to replace loans with grants. The government's abolition of the graduate endowment - a one-off fee paid by students once they have completed their studies - also failed to impress the student body because it benefited only graduates.

In their open letter, the student leaders called for a £7,000 annual minimum income for the poorest students, a refocusing of resources on tackling student hardship rather than graduate debt, greater availability of student loans and increased hardship funds.

In her response last night Ms Hyslop said that in the week when it had become clear that the Scottish budget next year was to face “a swingeing £500 million cut”, the students' letter looked “politically ill judged”.

She continued: “Student leaders have the job of fighting for their members but it is difficult to imagine that families facing redundancy and wondering how they are going to pay the rent are going to have much sympathy.

“Instead, the NUS and others should be pressing the UK Labour government to reverse the cuts in the Scottish budget, calling for an end to the waste of billions of pounds on Trident and ID cards, and fighting the real battle to protect public services, including student support.”

A Scottish government spokesman said ministers were focusing on reducing student debt at source through policies aimed at reducing hardship.

“We recognised that the student support system was inadequately funded by previous administrations and that is why funding totalling more than £84 million has been set aside to address this”, he said.

Last night Mr Singh said that while it was the case that families were facing redundancy and difficulties in paying rent, students were having difficulty on a day to day basis.

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