BRIDGET PHILLIPSON MP: We will show Labour is the Party of rising standards in education

The chaos I’m referring to came from the shambolic Department for Education, which is taking £370 million out of schools’ budget allocations for next year after botching calculations.

This mistake was identified in September, but acting with the deceitfulness now trademark for this government, the news was only revealed to headteachers after the Conservatives’ Party Conference had concluded.

And now, ministers hide behind officials. Once again shirking blame, dodging responsibility and convincing themselves they’ve done a ‘good job’.

But it is our children who are paying the price.

Some have claimed that £370 million is pocket change in Whitehall, pennies you find down the back of the settee.

But schools in Sunderland will be £1.9 million worse off after the funding debacle.

Ask any teacher locally and they’ll tell you just how much they’d value that extra help.

This is not a one-off – it is part of a much bigger pattern of Conservative mismanagement that we’ve seen across government for thirteen years.

Conservative mismanagement that brought us the crisis of crumbling concrete in schools.

That kept children at home for months as they failed to resolve strike action.

That idly watches record numbers of teachers leaving the profession.

That oversees gaps widening between the richest and poorest.

It will again fall to the next Labour government to reset the relationship between government, families and schools.

We’ll introduce breakfast clubs for every primary school child in England, to ensure they get the start to their day they deserve.

We’ll limit the number of branded school uniform items families need to buy, to cut the cost of sending children to school.

We’ll ensure children have equal access to the arts, giving everyone the social, cultural, and creative chances that today too few enjoy.

We’ll end the tax breaks private schools enjoy, recruit thousands more teachers and give young people the tools they need to thrive, from careers guidance and work experience, to mental health support.

We will show, once again, that Labour is the Party of high and rising standards in education.

Because to believe that government can be used for good is now distinctively Labour.

Power not just for the sake of it, but to change lives.

That determination drives our missions.

That determination will ensure we get Britain’s future back.