Angela Rayner comment on Social Mobility Commission State of the Nation Report

Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, commenting on the Social Mobility Commission’s State of the Nation Report 2017, said:

“In every area the Commission has highlighted, the Tories’ record is one of failure. Under the Tories, Sure Start funding has been cut by half, nurseries are in crisis, there are 400,000 more children living in poverty and the Chancellor has just pocketed a £750m under-spend on childcare rather than invest in our kids.

“The Government has missed its teacher recruitment targets five years in a row – and for two years running more teachers have left classrooms than joined the profession.

“The Government’s offer on social mobility is a scheme to take a few children up to thirty miles a day by taxi to get to the nearest grammar school, while cutting school transport for the many.

“The consequences are stark. The country is becoming more divided, with the life chances of the poorest dependent on their postcode. Labour will do things very differently by creating a National Education Service to give opportunities to every child, whatever their background, as we transform Britain into a country that works for the many, not the few.”