Post-16 Education Funding

Lord Jackson of Peterborough Excerpts

Monday 28th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

An opinion poll.

[Mr Stewart Jackson (Peterborough) (Con)]

I welcome the statement and so will students at Peterborough regional college. I would resist the churlish response from those on the Opposition Front Bench, marked out by intellectual incoherence and opportunism. Is my right hon. Friend as surprised as I am that nowhere in the comments made by the right hon. Member for Leigh (Andy Burnham) was there an apology for their record? Social mobility ossified in 13 years of Labour Government to the extent that more—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)]

Order. May we have a question that falls within the responsibility of the Secretary of State and this statement?

[Mr Stewart Jackson]

More people went to Oxford university in those 13 years from one noted public school than from the entire care system. Is that not a legacy of shame?

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point succinctly and well.