Ofsted chief’s warning over failing North

pOLITICIANS in the country’s most deprived areas ‘lack the political will’ to tackle the ‘long tail of underachievement’ in schools, the head of Ofsted said yesterday.

Sir Michael Wilshaw said local councils and Mps must ‘do more’ to ‘shake up the education system’ and prevent children falling behind in parts of the North and the Midlands. Of the 16 local authorities found to be lagging behind, 13 were in these regions and run by Labour councils.

He warned that George Osborne’s plans to build a ‘Northern powerhouse’ would be fruitless if the region’s youngsters were not educated to a high enough standard.

Launching his annual report yesterday, Sir Michael warned: ‘Local politicians must be as determined to encourage schools to do better as they are to lobby for fast trains or new motorways. Children in their regions deserve as good an education as children in the South. Without one, many will remain trapped in a cycle of deprivation that no amount of extra roads and railways will ever help them escape.’