Sofa Politics

Tonight I was invited into a family home to discuss the election and answer some questions. It was almost a warm-up for tomorrow night's hustings in Staines! I was asked about the economy, environment (including Runway Three), hung parliaments and schools. They had clearly discussed all these at great length among themselves, and grabbed the opportunity to get a candidate in the flesh to elaborate on their policies. It is a feature of this election that the majority of people really are engaged in it, and want to know what we all stand for. They have strong opinions that they want to share, and are taking a lot of care exploring what the parties have to offer. I am very hopeful that there will be a better turnout than in 2005, which I would have thought scarcely possible 12 months ago. In case you're wondering, I was assured I had the support of all the family on May 6th. If only I could get to every living room in Spelthorne!

Class Debate

I'm not talking about background, but about class sizes at schools. Today we focussed on our education policy. One of our four key pledges for the next Parliament is that we will invest an extra £2.5bn in schools through a Pupil Premium that will raise funding for the poorest pupils to private school levels. The money will be targeted at schools taking on children who need more help, but will benefit every child in every school. The cash can be used to cut class sizes and provide one-to-one tuition or catch-up classes, ensuring every child gets the individual attention they need. An average primary school could cut class sizes to 20. An average secondary school could see classes of just 16. We want to give children the best possible start, whatever their background or circumstances. Until we put this essential building block in place, we can't begin to tackle other issues in our society properly. That's why it is right at the top of our priority list. Shortwood Infant School has been threatened with closure for having small class sizes. We believe all schools should be like this.

Tories To Centralise Powers

The Tories have made much of their localism agenda. I have said before on this blog that they are paying lip service to it, and have no real idea of what localism means, as they have an inbuilt desire to wield power rather than share it. Once again they have shown this is exactly what they are about. The Government passed a disgraceful bill last year to centralise decision making around large planning applications, for example Heathrow Runway Three, and cut local councils and local people out of the loop as much as possible. The Lib Dems were horrified at this, and opposed the move. The Tories are now going to do the same with school planning applications. Far from passing power to local people, they are grabbing it back to Westminster, just as they always do. These crucial decisions should be taken at a local level, not in Whitehall. We have seen how regional planning has misunderstood local needs and issues, like the recent south east plan, which was dreadful. Central Government is even more remote for this type of issue, and will doubtless get many decisions wrong. But the Tories are once again mouthing the words of one song whilst singing another behind closed doors. You can't trust them on planning - just look at Spelthorne!