Minister snubs Yorkshire parents' school plea

Mr Balls rejected a request for a new secondary school in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, saying it would have a detrimental effect on education elsewhere in the borough.

He claimed the Tories were suggesting parents could have a "free lunch" by building new schools – but said doing this would in fact be expensive and have a negative impact on other children.

Tory Shadow Schools Secretary Michael Gove is proposing to allow parents' groups, charities, trusts and voluntary groups to set up and operate schools on the Swedish model, which would be taxpayer-funded and non-fee-paying but independent from state control.

The Tories claim this system will give parents more choice and drive up standards because of the element of competition it will create.

But Mr Balls rejected the Kirklees parents' proposal for a new secondary school with 900 places after commissioning a report into the impact of the plans.

He said: "I don't think it's responsible to give parents the impression that this is a free lunch – it's not. The Kirklees report makes that very clear indeed.

"What's happening here is that the Conservative Party is saying to the Kirklees parents' group, 'of course you can have a new school, that's our policy'.'

"The free market schools policy the Conservatives are pursuing would, as this makes clear, be at the detriment of other children and other parents and other schools in the district."

He added: "Of course I would like to say, have another school, as Michael Gove is saying, but it would be irresponsible."

Mr Balls said the model being promoted by the Tories had led to "greater inequality and lower standards" in Sweden.

Mr Gove said: "Ed Balls says he wants to give parents more choice and control of their schools but when the crunch comes he's let down a group of dedicated and hard-working parents in West Yorkshire and given cold comfort to parents in Wandsworth.

"This announcement show that Ed Balls's first priority is to side with bureaucrats not parents."

Mr Gove went on: "Ed Balls is wrong. All the evidence from Sweden shows that results have improved for all schools in areas where new independent schools have been founded.

"That's why every political party in Sweden apart from the communists supports the policy. It's why President Obama is doing the same in America.

"In this country too many parents don't get the schools they want. It is only the rich who can guarantee the kind of education they want for their children either by going private or paying for a mortgage on a house in the right catchment area.

"The Conservatives will create a new generation of independent, free and non-selective schools."