Blair urged to listen to his critics
Tony Blair’s determination to press ahead with education reforms threatens to “ride roughshod” over genuine criticism, Charles Kennedy warned today.
The Lib Dem leader was speaking after the prime minister defended his plans to give schools more freedom from local education authorities.
Mr Blair said he would persist with the plans in the face of backbench opposition and teachers’ concerns, saying that past reforms had been tough, but were worth the fight.
However, Mr Kennedy warned: “There are serious issues being raised over matters like selection and admissions policy. Tony Blair needs to listen to parliament and work with opponents to craft the right policy for our schools.
“If, yet again, he is intending to deploy all the arts of spin and manipulation and then to ride roughshod over reasoned argument and criticism in parliament, he will be doing our teachers and our children a great disservice.”
Mr Blair’s speech today in his Sedgefield constituency came as part of a government offensive to convince critics of the benefits of the school reforms, started by education secretary Ruth Kelly’s address to head teachers in London yesterday.
But shadow education secretary David Cameron said the fact that such action was needed showed the lack of support the prime minister had for his plans.
“Now, in the twilight of his premiership, Mr Blair finally wants to move in the right direction – but it is clear that in the face of a divided cabinet and a divided party he is unable to, which is why he felt the need to give the speech he gave this morning,” he said.
Mr Cameron added: “Where the government wants to introduce genuine reforms, we will support them, but these must be based on real freedom for schools.”
However, Unison general secretary Dave Prentis urged the government to focus on the less controversial aspects of the white paper on schools – such as personalised learning – rather than pushing forward unpopular measures such as increased private sector involvement.
“There are some parts of the white paper that are positive and forward thinking such as the emphasis on personalised learning and more flexibility in the curriculum. This is what the government should concentrate on, not increasing private sector involvement.”
Meanwhile, a new survey of 150 Labour party constituency chairs suggest that one in four would like Mr Blair to resign within the year.
The survey for BBC Radio Five live also found that one third of those questioned did not believe the prime minister was an asset to the party.
