Sebastian Payne

Elizabeth Truss: look at Wales to see what Labour would do with education

Want to see what Labour would do with Michael Gove’s reforms? Just look at Wales, says Elizabeth Truss. At the Spectator’s schools conference this morning, the Childcare Minister used the demolished the Euston arch (pictured above) as a symbol of how Britain went wrong, and its HS2-stimulated rebirth of how this government is making amends.

Speaking after a robust lecture from Tristram Hunt, Truss explained how the changes to education in Wales have set a dangerous precedent of what a Labour government might do. She pointed out that after abandoning national testing, Wales has fallen to 40th in international league tables for maths:

‘In terms of accountability, this is one of the big issues with Wales and why they’ve fallen down so dramatically. When you remove accountability system, you can’t hold schools to account and you can’t see worse performance.’

Get Britain's best politics newsletters

Register to get The Spectator's insight and opinion straight to your inbox. You can then read two free articles each week.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in