Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Wales Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Jackson of Peterborough Excerpts
Wednesday 8th December 2010

(13 years, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Portrait The Prime Minister
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If I turned up, I probably would not get “This Charming Man”. If I went with the Foreign Secretary, it would probably be, “William, It Was Really Nothing”.

Lord Jackson of Peterborough Portrait Mr Stewart Jackson (Peterborough) (Con)
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Does my right hon. Friend agree—[Interruption.]

John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Order. There is simply too much noise. It is very unfair. I want to hear Mr Stewart Jackson.

Lord Jackson of Peterborough Portrait Mr Jackson
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Does my right hon. Friend agree that it is a badge of shame, for which the Labour party should apologise to taxpayers, parents and pupils, that having doubled education spending during their term in office, they managed to drive down educational attainment standards to the bottom of the international league, according to the OECD?

Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Portrait The Prime Minister
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My hon. Friend makes a good point. The tables published today make depressing reading. We are falling behind countries such as Poland and Estonia, which we should be well ahead of. Frankly, this comes down to the choice we have to make. We made the choice of putting an extra £3 billion into the schools budget during this Parliament, because we want more done in early years and primary education so that we get the social mobility about which the Leader of the Opposition was posing earlier.