Tory MP: Labour policies helped poor boys like me
TORY MP Graham Evans has praised previous Labour governments and spoken about his start in life as a ‘white, working class, poor boy’ as he called for more to be done to help others with such a background.
The Weaver Vale MP, who represents East Runcorn, said he left school with no qualifications and had been written off for low-paid employment.
He added that he was passionate about helping poor working class people of any gender to succeed and said his children attended state schools.
Mr Evans said that he represented a ‘shire county, a rural area in west Cheshire’.
Having declared his personal interest in the issue, he said 71% of girls in the North West achieved five GCSEs A*-C compared with 59% of boys – a difference of 12% – but that the gap is wider at 15% in Weaver Vale.
Mr Evans urged minister Nick Gibb to tackle ‘coasting’ local authority schools to provide the best opportunities in a globalised economy.
He said: “White, working class boys are far less likely to go to university than any other group in the country and I say to the minister that ‘ coasting’ schools in shire counties such as Cheshire have been an absolute scandal over many years.
“Some progress has been made by previous governments – Labour governments – in inner cities, certainly in London, but those of us representing shire counties in the North of England, for example, have been badly let down.”