Tory school policy condemned

Lib Dem ppc for NW Hampshire Tom McCann has condemned the Tories’ proposals for “free schools” as unworkable and anti-democratic.

The Tory proposals, leaked last week, would allow anyone to set up a school and take control of schools away from local authorities and hand it over to centralised control from Westminster. The plan is copied from a similar system tried but unproven in Sweden.

The proposals have been rejected as unworkable and too expensive by not only the government but also Tory county councils such as Kent and Hampshire. Andover county councillor and Hampshire education spokesman David Kirk said “choice is something we’d all dearly love to be able to offer, but choice costs.”

Tom believes control of schools should rest with local people through their elected councils. “It is not something to be privatised and handed out at the whim of a government minister” he said. “This shows the Conservatives commitment to localism to be a sham. A vote for them is a vote to replace Labour centralisation with Tory centralisation. Even their own party activists don’t trust them.”