Helping to highlight the spending gap
From: Chris Whitwood, Leader, Yorkshire Party.
TWO weeks ago, as part of the campaign for the European Parliament elections, the Yorkshire Party published a leaflet. Prominently placed on the front was an infographic highlighting the shameful disparity in education spending across the country.
As a former primary school teacher, it appalls me to see schools in London receive around £6,800 per pupil per year (in Tower Hamlets this rises to £6,965). Those in Manchester are given £5,281.
Meanwhile, schools in York recieve a paltry £4,163. This chronic underfunding results in schools being overstretched, staff pushed to breaking point and our children losing out.
The Yorkshire Party’s campaign leaflet was delivered to almost one and a half million households across Yorkshire, including the houses of many Conservative Party members, councillors and MPs.
On Monday, Conservative leadership hopeful Boris Johnson wrote that “it is simply not sustainable that funding per pupil should be £6,800 in parts of London and £4,200 in some other parts of the country”.
The inequality of school funding is a campaign many people, including the Yorkshire Party, have been fighting for some time. However, it is noteable that the matter is given prominent place in the launch of the former Foreign Secretary’s leadership bid so soon after it was given a prominent place in the Yorkshire Party’s election campaign.
I didn’t join the Yorkshire Party to be a protest vote. I joined because of a desire to tackle the inequality that plagues our region and a genuine belief that we can make a difference. Ensuring fair education spending so our children are granted the opportunities they deserve is just the first step.
Our vision is for our children to receive a world class education, connect our region with modern and reliable transport infrastructure, address the environmental challenges that threaten us and give a voice to our communities so people across Yorkshire can participate in shaping our future. In short, we seek to build a stronger Yorkshire with a fairer United Kingdom.