Now Sir Keir Starmer joins North’s calls for education reform – The Yorkshire Post says

SIR KEIR Starmer is not the first Labour leader to use their party conference speech to champion education – and inequality. Harold Wilson, the then Prime Minister, did so in Scarborough in 1967, the last time Labour held this setpiece event in Yorkshire.
By YP Comment
Published 22nd Sep 2020, 05:55 BST
Sir Keir Starmer will highlight the issue of education when he addresses Labour activists today from Doncaster.Sir Keir Starmer will highlight the issue of education when he addresses Labour activists today from Doncaster.
Sir Keir Starmer will highlight the issue of education when he addresses Labour activists today from Doncaster.

Yet, while Covid forces Sir Keir to deliver his first such speech from a biosecure location in Doncaster, his proposed ‘national mission’ to tackle Britain’s attainment gap is meritorious and echoes similar calls made by The Yorkshire Post and ex Tory Ministers.

Already Justine Greening, a former Education Secretary, is calling for 100 new Opportunity Areas to be created to drive up standards in under-performing areas while Lord Jim O’Neill, an architect of the Northern Powerhouse, says it is time for the Department for Education to embrace the ‘levelling up’ policy agenda.

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Meanwhile Otley’s Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner, says schools in the North deserve the level of investment and intervention that transformed the ethos of education in London at the start of this century.

Harold Wilson was leader of Labour when the party staged its annual conferences in Scarborough in 1963 (pictured) and then in 1967.Harold Wilson was leader of Labour when the party staged its annual conferences in Scarborough in 1963 (pictured) and then in 1967.
Harold Wilson was leader of Labour when the party staged its annual conferences in Scarborough in 1963 (pictured) and then in 1967.

It is significant, therefore, that Sir Keir wants a new strategy enforced “through an independent body, such as the Children’s Commissioner” so no family loses out because of the exam’s fiasco or delays in getting children into school. Doubtless, Sir Keir’s critics will accuse him of opportunism. And, if they do, they’re wrong. Education should be above party politics – the hope is Chancellor Rishi Sunak accepts these arguments in the spirit intended and acts accordingly in the forthcoming Budget and Spending Review.

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James Mitchinson

Related topics:Keir StarmerYorkshire PostLabourNorthScarboroughJustine GreeningYorkshire

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