Training | 2010.01.11
This is not class war | Ed Balls
We have always fought for the many, not the few. Tory claims to do the same are a con trick
On the stroke of midnight, David Cameron unveiled his new slogan for 2010. "Year for change," he said, but what change he is promising once again went unsaid.
The Tories and their media friends want the election to be a referendum on the government. That\'s why they dismiss talk of policy differences or dividing lines as "false", "partisan" or, ludicrously, as "class war". They don\'t want any scrutiny of their policies and they don\'t want the election to be a choice.
But politics always has been about choices; about different values, priorities and instincts. And this year, Britain faces the starkest choice for decades – on the economy, public services and our relations with Europe.
That\'s why debates that set out the choices will be so important. And, while the leaders\' TV debates will inevitably draw the attention, I hope we will see the cabinet and shadow cabinet debating too. This week I will ask my opposite numbers to agree dates, and will propose that we invite parents, teachers, governors and pupils – the people who will be affected directly by the election choice – to ask the questions.
Because there are big choices on education policy. Do we guarantee one-to-one tuition for children falling behind, and education and training up to 18 for all young people? Do we stop treating vocational qualifications as second class? Do we give parents more information on how local schools are performing by introducing new school report cards? The Tories say no to all these reforms.
Now, as in 1997, our education policy is driven by the core New Labour idea of opportunity and aspiration for all, not just some; improving standards and expanding opportunity in every school, not just a handful in each area. "The many, not the few" was at the heart of Tony Blair\'s new Clause Four . But it\'s only in the last few weeks that the Tories have called this "class war" in a bid to stop any scrutiny of their policies.
It doesn\'t matter what schools David Cameron or Michael Gove went to. It does matter what their policies would mean for the millions of children and parents reliant on today\'s state schools.
Take their so-called Swedish model for schools. Their proposal is that, regardless of local need, those parents with time on their hands should be given taxpayers\' money to set up and run a new school for their children, including those now in private schools. But what about the vast majority of working parents who want a good local school for their children but do not have the time, energy or knowhow to set up their own school? They will know that in a Conservative "age of austerity", where schools spending is already targeted for cuts, this hugely expensive experiment can only be paid for by even bigger cuts to the budgets of every state school.
Tory education policy is an elaborate con trick on millions of parents and pupils. Just like the Tory assisted places scheme, or the "pupil passport" proposed by Cameron in 2005, they want to take resources from the many to fund the education of a few.
Of course our objective is to win the election. But we would never forgive ourselves if we allowed the Tories to emerge from it claiming by default a mandate for their policies to wreck our economic recovery and frontline public services.
So don\'t let anyone tell us that this election is simply about change. Our country faces hugely important choices. And on education, the Tories have made theirs: to pursue a reckless free market experiment with the state system, and to cut the frontline schools budgets relied on by millions to give an inheritance tax cut to the wealthiest few.
These are the choices the public must make and – whether the Tories like it or not – they will decide the election.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/[...]nservative-eduction-politicies
