Dr Luke Evans

There appear to be two parts to this debate: ideology and practicality. Fair play to the Labour Government—when they came in, they said that they intended to introduce this proposal. They told the public and put it in their manifesto, for which I respect them. That is important, especially when compared with their policy on winter fuel payments. But it is hard to see how it is not ideological, when the Secretary of State for Education has tweeted: “Our state schools need teachers more than private schools need embossed stationery. Our children need mental health support more than private schools need new pools. Our students need careers advice more than private schools need AstroTurf pitches.” This reeks of prejudice and propagates a class war, and I am sorry to say that the Secretary of State is not here to defend her tweet. She is a decent woman, and I would like to think that she would apologise. As I said, this is a manifesto commitment, and the Labour Government have a mandate to deliver it, but they also have a mandate to deliver it in a way that takes the impact into account. In response both to today’s debate and my questions to the Leader of the House, we have heard that Ministers have seen an impact assessment. If they want to champion this plan, why not share the information with everyone? One private school in my constituency that will be affected, Dixie grammar school, has simply asked, “Why can we not see what the impact will be?” That is not an unreasonable question. As I said to the Minister earlier, children are at the heart of this. I do not see the rush to implement this policy in January. The Prime Minister put his child in an apartment because he was worried about the impact on his child’s education. I respect that decision, but does he not see the problem with implementing a policy that will have exactly the same kind of impact by tearing kids out of their schools? Mark my words: it will happen. That is what the two private schools in my constituency have said. Where is the report addressing the impact on their education? In my constituency, the biggest problem will be that we do not have the school places for pupils who move out of private schools. What will happen then? We have not heard how this Government will deal with that, and that is the fundamental issue. How will children and families cope? The Prime Minister insulated his child, but how will the Government insulate the nation’s children?