Nearly everyone would accept that education is the key to advancement in the globalised, knowledge economy and that now is the worst time in almost a generation to look for a job. So, it is a huge error for the government to now be telling sixth-form and colleges that there is a £60 million shortfall in funding. In the days before we became inured to governmental incompetence, this kind of mistake would have led to calls for ministerial resignations.
Michael Gove, Balls’s opposite number, points out what the consequences of this cock-up by Balls’ department are:
‘The Education Secretary is now in the deeply uncomfortable position of telling thousands of sixth-formers, desperate to learn and acquire the qualifications necessary for this ever more competitive world, that there’s no place for them in his plans.
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