- The Guardian, Thursday 20 September 2007
David Laws, the schools spokesman courted by Conservatives, told the Lib Dem conference in Brighton that it was not enough to want a "good local school in every neighbourhood". That, he said, "is an excellent aspiration - it is not a policy".One MP described the speech by Mr Laws as a major departure in the party's policy.
The Liberal Democrats have long been popular with pro-comprehensive campaigners as both Labour and Tories have pushed for a more diverse, fractured system, where local authority influence is kept to a minimum. Mr Laws' proposals move the party closer to their direction.
"Choice is not a dirty word: it is one of the essential freedoms in a liberal society. And it is the liberal way of promoting real diversity, innovation, and higher standards," he told delegates. He said he wanted to make it easier for independent and new schools to come into the state system, outside the local authority umbrella, provided the schools accepted standard admissions policies and minimum curriculum standards. Local authorities would have powers to add to national funding for schools, provided they handed out the money equally to schools in their area. All schools should be given the right to innovate in the curriculum, away from interference by Whitehall.
Some delegates had been reassured by Mr Laws' performance at a fringe meeting on Monday. But the proposals, not yet party policy, are still likely to trouble some party members.
Chesterfield MP Paul Holmes, a member of the Commons education committee, who chaired that meeting, said: "I don't think you can fault what he has said so far." But Mr Holmes acknowledged there were still concerns. "Unless you have got extra capacity in schools, how to do you actually get meaningful choice? And how can you square the circle between more empowerment and choice for parents and the problems that then arise with faith schools, academies and specialist schools selecting by the back door?"
Mr Laws proposed a new education standards authority, independent of the government, to restore confidence in the exam system and stability to the curriculum, likening it to the way giving independence to the Bank of England ended meddling in, and brought credibility to, interest rates. The party has already voted to endorse plans for an extra £1.5bn to support the poorest pupils in schools, paid for by taking higher earners out of the tax credit system. Seventy-five per cent of the money will be directed at the poorest 15%, Mr Laws said.
Mr Laws confirmed that the shadow chancellor, George Osborne, last year invited him to become a Conservative. "One or two of my colleagues may have thought I already was," he said. "But I am a liberal and a progressive. And in 2007, I am both sad and angry to find that we continue to live in a country in which your life chances are still framed by background, rather than ability."
