Labour government would block spread of new grammars

LABOUR would oppose the expansion of grammar schools if elected, the shadow education secretary said yesterday.

Bridget Phillipson confirmed Sir Keir Starmer’s party would seek to block the creation of new selective schools and stop existing ones from taking on greater numbers of students.

Ms Phillipson insisted Labour would not seek to abolish any grammars but focus instead on improving standards in state education in England.

She told Times Radio: “I wouldn’t begin with a system that involves selection at 11, but we are where we are.

“My priority wouldn’t be to see big structural upheaval in our schools, given the pressure that they’re under, but making sure that we do deliver a brilliant state education for every child in our country.

“We do not support expansion of grammar schools. I’m saying that we wouldn’t seek to significantly change the existing system that we have. But we absolutely oppose any expansion.”

Asked why she opposed the creation of new institutions, Ms Phillipson replied: “I don’t think that should be the priority. It should be about driving up standards in the schools that we already have.”

She went on to reveal that a Labour government “won’t allow expansion to take place” even where it is currently planned to do so.

Maidstone Grammar School for Girls will soon take on an extra 30 pupils per year and replace two of its blocks of classrooms after Kent county council approved an expansion worth £7.8million in August.

Ms Phillipson also branded Rishi Sunak’s defence of tax breaks for private schools “indefensible” in the wake of

‘The priority should be about driving up standards in the schools that we already have’

his row with Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, about aspiration at last week’s Prime Minister’s Questions.

However, she added: “I think parents will choose to do what’s right by their children. I’m not suggesting we deny parents that opportunity.”

Labour railed against a planned selective education push by Theresa May, under Jeremy Corbyn, Sir Keir’s predecessor, who claimed her plans were “divisive”.

“Grammar schools ... siphon off a few better-off children at the expense of the rest,” he said at the time.