Member

Actually, it is more than that. It is 25 years of progress because, as I referred to earlier in an intervention, it was 2000 when the then Labour Prime Minister announced the academies programme, and I think it was in 2002 that the first city academy opened. That is a quarter of a century of progress in which time demonstrably, by every known measure of performance, schools in Wales have fallen behind schools in England practising these supposedly appalling academy policies which have led to such an improvement for the child. The hon. Gentleman’s speech was quite remarkable. but I would hope there are Members opposite who are not so tied up in their trade union engagement—their producer-interest capture—that they can instead focus on the interests of young people.