Is Labour really a credible government-in-waiting?

How long do you give it before Labour abandon their promise of golden hellos for new teachers? Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson has insisted their proposed £2,400 welcome bonus wheeze will be fully costed, funded by a tax raid on fee-paying schools.

It is not yet clear whether Labour has considered that putting private education beyond the reach of tens of thousands will mean many pupils pouring into the state system, at a cost of hundreds of millions every year. Nor whether party strategists realise they may be slightly overestimating how far they can make the £1.6 billion raised annually from this levy go.

Undoubtedly, recruitment and retention in the profession is a challenge. Teacher vacancies in England are almost twice their pre-Covid level. But surely the more worrying development for our children’s education is the vastly increased loss of learning days thanks to both a 60 per cent rise in teacher sick days last year and repeated strike walkouts.