PM backs education reforms

Tony Blair has declared that there is an opportunity to improve Britain's schools by "abandoning selection, to bring high quality education to all."

In a speech defending Government plans to reform education in his Sedgefield constituency, the Prime Minister said education was "the spark that can light a love of learning" and that a child's most precious asset gained in life was "self-belief."

However, the changes proposed in the government's recent schools White Paper, are threatening yet another backbench rebellion in the Commons.

While Mr Blair sees the proposals as "releasing the energy, inside and outside the school system" critics of the White Paper are concerned that schools may return to selection by academic ability.

But Mr Blair sought to assure that there would be a role for local authorities in education. He said: "The White Paper does not destroy the role of local government, it gives dynamic local authorities a great opportunity to re-invent themselves as champions of the needs of pupils and parents.

"In practice this means they can map local needs, ensure that popular schools can expand and poor schools are closed, and make sure there is proper competition to open new schools. But it does take away the power of government, central and local, to block change."

In his first speech since the Government's defeat in the Commons over controversial anti-terror legislation, Mr Blair said that he was "restless for change" not because he wanted to pick another fight but because there were hundreds of schools where "fewer than half of the children get the results they need at 16".

The Prime Minister said that for all the progress "17,000 children left school every year without any qualifications, whilst that remains I cannot rest, I will not, until we do all in our power to root out and change that failure."

Conservative Education spokesperson David Cameron claimed that the Labour Cabinet was divided on the issue of educational reforms and that the "watered-down" proposals were not genuine school reforms.

(SP)