Education, education, education: a history of Labour's schools policies

"Education, education, education" was at the heart of Tony Blair's pitch to the British public in the run-up to the 1997 general election.

Now, 27 years on, the issue is still a central plank of Labour's manifesto, with Blair's eventual successor Keir Starmer promising to recruit 6,500 teachers and create 3,300 new nurseries within existing primary schools.

But his plan to scrap the VAT exemption on independent school fees has provoked opposition, a reflection of how Labour's approach to education has evolved and divided over the years.

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'Free at all stages'

The Labour Party was founded in 1900 and its first leader, Keir Hardie, said he believed that all working people should receive a full education that was "free at all stages" and "open to everyone without any tests of prior attainment at any age".

Implementing this did not prove as simple as hoped. As prime minister, Clement Attlee was able to implement the 1944 Education Act, which provided universal free secondary education and raised the minimum school leaving age from 14 to 15.

Later, Harold Wilson's government expanded comprehensive education and created the Open University. Between 1966 and 1970, the proportion of children in comprehensive schools increased from about 10% to over 30%.

'Education, education, education'

By 2007, after 10 years of Blair's premiership, the government was spending almost £1.2 billion on education every week, as the core "per pupil" funding had risen by 48% in "real terms", said the BBC, amounting to £1,450 more per year per child. 

Blair could point to some successes from this spending. In primary school tests just before he took power, 63% of 11-year-olds had reached the expected levels in English, 62% in maths and 69% in science. Nine years later, the test results were all up – 79% in English, 76% in maths and 87% in science. There were 35,000 more teachers and 172,000 more teaching assistants.

But there were also "failures", said the broadcaster, as a "stark gap" remained between the achievement of pupils in "affluent and deprived communities". Blair had promised that truancy rates were going to be cut by a third, with threats of jailing parents, but they were "unchanged".

'Leftward drift'

Jeremy Corbyn was passionate about education too. In 1999 he got divorced after a disagreement with his wife over whether their son should be educated at one of the country's best grammar schools or at a nearby north London comprehensive.

Corbyn favoured the local comp and his marital break-up echoed "tensions" within the Labour Party over selection in education and the future of the country's 160 grammar schools, said The Guardian.

After Corbyn became Labour leader in 2015, the party planned to scrap university tuition fees and restore maintenance grants. He also promised to invest in a National Education Service, modelled on "what the NHS does for healthcare", said the TES.

Corbyn also wanted children to be taught about injustice and the role of the British Empire, as education policy moved more towards the left.

'Politics of envy'

In the event of a Starmer government, empty primary school classrooms will be turned into nurseries as part of his plans to create an extra 100,000 childcare places.

Labour aims to create more than 3,300 new nurseries using spare schools capacity caused by declining birth rates, and the proposal will be funded by its "VAT raid on private schools", said The Telegraph.

Starmer said childcare is "critical infrastructure", "vital for children’s opportunities" and "essential for a stable economy", but Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said Labour's approach is the "politics of envy", said the Daily Express.