Unsurprisingly, the Conservative attempt to amend/kill off the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill failed tonight, with MPs voting 364 to 111 against the reasoned amendment tabled by Kemi Badenoch. The amendment declined to give the bill its second reading on the basis of a lengthy list of issues, with the call for a national inquiry on grooming gangs at the very end.
The question of the inquiry did not fully dominate the debate, though there were some tense moments, particularly when Reform UK MPs were speaking. Labour backbencher Sarah Champion, who had long been outspoken on sexual exploitation, called the speech by Rupert Lowe ‘disgusting’ because of the language he had used. Her colleague Nadia Whittome similarly attacked both Reform and the Conservatives for ‘weaponising the pain and the trauma of victims for their own political ends’.
The airwaves have been full of Labour and Conservative figures angrily debating the amendment on the grooming gangs, but the debate in the Chamber was – fortunately – more focused on the substance of the bill, something Michael discusses on our latest Coffee House Shots podcast here. The Conservatives have been sounding the alarm for a while about the proposals on academies. Shadow education secretary Laura Trott told the Chamber that her party ‘do see value’ in the measures on child protection, but then added:
‘But the other half of the Bill is the policy equivalent of a wrecking ball. It is an all-out assault on teachers, the education system and on standards. It is nothing less than education vandalism and we will oppose it with every fibre of our beings.’
That’s the sort of thing you might expect from an opposition party concerned that this legislation will unpick much of the successful school reform that it pursued when in government. But what was more striking was a coldly furious speech from Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh, who spoke about the academies in her constituency and how they benefited from not having to teach to the national curriculum. She added: ‘I struggle to see how removing this right to a carefully tailored education will benefit the students that need the additional support that this provides.’ McDonagh told the government frontbench that she wanted to put on record her ‘serious concerns’ about the decision to change the pathway for turning around failing schools so that they don’t automatically become academies. She warned that this would benefit no one because it would ‘result in a large increase in judicial reviews’ and ‘prolonged uncertainty’ about the future of the school. McDonagh has always been her own woman, much happier talking about whether policy is actually working rather than plodding out some nonsensical party line. But she is also a party loyalist, and will only speak out like this when she is worried that Labour is about to make a mistake that will cost it and the people it serves. Her speech is not one ministers can easily dismiss.
Keep up to date with Coffee House Shots, The Spectator’s daily politics podcast:
Comments