Laura Trott
Main Page: Laura Trott (Conservative - Sevenoaks)Department Debates - View all Laura Trott's debates with the Department for Education
(1 month, 1 week ago)
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Laura Trott (Sevenoaks) (Con)
The resignation of the Prime Minister this morning was a damning indictment of the record of this Government over the last two years. Part of the Prime Minister’s legacy will be teacher morale at an all-time low. New data from the National Education Union today shows that 72% of teachers believe that the Government have performed badly on education. Why does the Secretary of State think the country and so many teachers have lost faith in this Government?
Bridget Phillipson
It is a funny old world in which the right hon. Lady prays in aid the National Education Union, but there we are.
I am proud of the action that this Labour Government are taking on pay and workload and in addressing all the many challenges that our teachers and leaders face, which were left behind by the Conservatives. Under them, we saw a shocking rise in child poverty and major social failure. The only policy that the right hon. Lady has is to cut state school budgets to give private schools their tax breaks back.
Laura Trott
Well, that is a load of rubbish.
The Secretary of State says that she is proud of the action that the Government are taking on pay. May I suggest that one of the reasons teachers are angry is that they still do not know their pay? When the Conservatives had to delay the teacher pay awards to this point in the year, the Education Secretary described it as a “complete dereliction of duty”. Why does she think it is one rule for the Labour party and one rule for everyone else?
Bridget Phillipson
The right hon. Lady left behind a pay award and zero funding to pay for it. One of the first things that I did as Secretary of State was to deliver that award in full and fully funded; when she was a Treasury Minister, she was totally derelict in her responsibilities. This Labour Government will drive up school standards and make change happen for teachers and leaders.
The right hon. Lady says it is nonsense that she has only one policy, which is to cut state school budgets to invest in tax breaks for private schools, but it is true. That is all the Conservatives have. They have nothing to say on education and nothing to say on how they would tackle the major challenges we are dealing with, especially on special educational needs and disabilities.