Ahead of a major speech today, Sir Keir Starmer has claimed social mobility is “going backwards” under the Conservatives and that Labour in government would smash the “class ceiling” with education reform.
The Labour leader this morning pledged to “break the link” between people’s circumstances when they are born and “where they end up”.
It comes as Sir Keir prepares to deliver a speech in Gillingham in which he will set out the last of his five “missions” for a potential future Labour government with a focus on overhauling education. The fifth mission is to “break down the barriers to opportunity at every stage, for every child”.
Focusing on the need for education reform, Sir Keir will promise to smash the “class ceiling” if his party wins the next general election by hiring 6,500 more teachers and implement a retention policy.
Speaking ahead of his speech, Sir Keir told BBC Breakfast: “The ambition is to remove barriers to opportunity, and really I would describe it as saying we want to break the link between where people start in life as children and young people and where they end up because for years that has been flatlining or going backwards — this sense that you are determined more by the earnings of your parents than you are by your talent.
He added: “That is why one of the ways I have described this is breaking the class ceiling that we still have in our society”.
The Labour leader also pledged this morning “to get rid of a tax break that is there for private schools at the moment”.
Sir Keir said he would use the money raised from removing the tax break to recruit the 6,500 teachers.
He also highlighted the need for long-term changes including teaching children language skills and put a greater emphasis on arts and creative subjects within the curriculum.
