Labour at war! Senior ministers trade blowsover school reforms
TONY Blair’s flagship school reforms were in turmoil last night as an extraordinary Cabinet rift over the issue deepened.
Education Secretary Ruth Kelly insisted Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott – who has objected publicly to the Premier’s plans to give state schools more freedoms – was simply wrong. B u t a s o u r c e c l o s e t o M r Prescott last night responded: ‘The debate goes on.’
The confusion intensified as Miss Kelly, under fire from disillusioned Labour MPs, claimed a new generation of independent ‘ trust’ schools would not be given any extra powers.
Her assertion contrasted sharply with Mr Blair’s insistence that all schools will effectively be free to opt out of state control.
In a foreword to the Government’s proposals, published in October, Mr Blair declared: ‘ Our aim is the creation of a system of independent, non-fee-paying state schools.’
Many MPs now expect the Prime Minister to back down in the face of opposition from Mr Prescott and more than 70 Labour MPs.
Miss Kelly’s attempt to downplay the impact of the Government’s reforms cut little ice with Labour backbenchers.
One of the party’s most senior MPs bluntly told her to go back to the drawing board.
Barry Sheerman, the normally loyal Labour chairman of the Commons education select committee, said the Government’s proposals were ‘ extraordinarily poorly written’.
The former university lecturer said if the plan had been handed in as an essay, he would have sent it back and told the student concerned to rewrite it. Mr Sheerman told Miss Kelly, appearing before his committee last night, that her explanations of the reforms were also incomprehensible. ‘ I feel sorry for people watching this at home,’ he said.
The Cabinet rift became public at the weekend when Mr Prescott used an interview to make known his objections to Mr Blair’s proposals.
It is almost unprecedented for senior ministers to openly trade blows over such a key policy area.
The row has heightened speculation about the Prime Minister’s waning authority.
His vision of trust schools would set them free from local authority control, allowing them to hire staff, control assets, set their own curriculum and, crucially, control admissions. Outside bodies, such as universities, churches and businesses, will be invited to help run the schools.
But Mr Prescott fears the move could allow schools to reintroduce selection, leading to a ‘ two- tier’ system. He questioned why the Prime Minister was introducing changes to schools at all, insisting: ‘ I’m not totally convinced major reform is necessary.’
Yesterday, in a further sign of Mr Blair’s weakness, Downing Street turned a blind eye to what was a spectacular breach of Cabinet discipline. Mr Blair’s official spokesman said no action would be taken against the Deputy Prime Minister because he had simply ‘ echoed the concerns expressed by other people’.
But Miss Kelly promptly added fuel to the row by declaring Mr Prescott had got it wrong.
She told MPs: ‘Well, I don’t agree with him. I think this is a good set of proposals that will help the most disadvantaged children in the most disadvantaged areas as well as contribute to rising stan dards across the board.’ There was ‘no way’, she said, that plans to create trust schools would mean a return to selection by ability in England. There had been ‘ misunderstandings’ about the proposals set out in the Government’s schools White Paper.
She admitted she was responsible for the confusion, claiming schools admissions were ‘ difficult to explain’.
But in a marked change of tone, Miss Kelly said trust schools would have no extra powers to run their own affairs beyond those already available to existing foundation schools, which already control their own admissions, within a national code that forbids selection by ability.
The only difference would be that external backers could control their governing bodies.
‘I think some people think that trust schools are a brand new category of school,’ she said. ‘ What we are doing is allowing schools much more easily in the future to take advantage of existing flexibilities that are there already.’
Incredulous MPs demanded to know why, if that was the case, the Government was proceeding with reforms at all. Helen Jones, MP for Warrington North, said: ‘If schools can do all these things now, why do we need a major change in governance arrangements?’ Mr Blair now looks certain to have to rely on the support of Tory MPs if he is to have any hope of getting the existing reforms through Parliament.
Tory education spokesman David Willetts said: ‘We have reached the point where the Education Secretary is publicly squabbling with the Deputy Prime Minister. This is no way to run a Government. Ruth Kelly was put under more pressure to back-track, and now seems to be in a muddle over how a trust school will differ from a foundation school.
‘If she holds firm to the original vision behind the White Paper, we will back her. But she must not retreat in the face of pressure from her own backbenches.’
Liberal Democrat education spokesman Edward Davey said: ‘ By giving schools the right to set admissions, she is taking power away from parents and communities.’