Education has all but disappeared from the election debate

More than 25 years ago, when I was setting up the Sutton Trust, the leader of the opposition, a fresh-faced Tony Blair, was touring the TV studios with a simple message, ‘Education, Education, Education’. And sure enough, during the 1997 election, Labour promised to cut class sizes on their famous pledge card.

Fast forward quarter of a century, and we’re about to go into an election which many are comparing to 1997. But what has happened to education? It’s almost disappeared from the political agenda. Indeed, it has fallen off a cliff in terms of its political saliency.

Rishi Sunak had his five pledges last year and not one was about education. And when you examine what the government has focused on in recent years, education has hardly had a look in.

Keir Starmer’s opportunity mission includes education, but the policy substance and funding for it is underwhelming to say the least.