Mr Scott has written to the university’s principal, Peter Mathieson, stating that hundreds of children live in poverty in Shetland even though it is not among Scotland’s most deprived areas, known as SIMD 20.
Edinburgh University is only offering unused places to students living in a postcode deemed part of this least wealthy 20 per cent.
“There is no one simple and faultless measure of deprivation but it is stating the obvious to say that a prospective student’s personal circumstances cannot be ascertained solely by their postcode,” Mr Scott wrote.
In 2016, despite figures showing that Shetland had the lowest level of child poverty across local authorities in Scotland, there were still more than 400 children living in poverty there, he added.
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