Parents really want a choice

It's clear proof that Redditch now needs an MP who will stand up for local people rather than toe the party line.

When she was a junior minister for school standards, our MP had nothing to say about the good schools sacrificed in Redditch.

She hid behind spending pledges, as if the ethos of good schools was something we in Redditch could afford to throw away.

Recently, she has affected to stand up for Redditch folk over the route of the Studley bypass - while making it clear the decision, if adverse, would be quite beyond her own influence or control.

Now she expects us to believe that the mere aspiration of the LEA to better results than it has enabled in the past, and its 'massive building programme', guarantee higher standards in our schools.

What parents really want is a choice, to ensure their children get the right education and the best start in life.

Decent standards of discipline. Adequate help for all abilities. An end to teacher shortages. This is what matters.

Under Labour, we have record indiscipline. Children denied good schools. An over-prescriptive curriculum. Teachers in despair.

But, she tells us, worry not. After nearly five years in office, 'reforms to the unfair funding system are in the pipeline' under her Government. This year? Next year? Sometime? Never?

Many Labour MPs were re-elected in June because they weren't held responsible for their Government's failures.

But actions speak louder than their warm words. And Labour's record in our schools is a disgrace.

If they addressed the real needs of our children with a fraction of the energy they devote to spin and propaganda, things might be better.

As it is, people like me are redoubling our efforts to show that effective government - local and national - starts with a proper feel for what our communities want; and a proper understanding of how to deliver that, through the public, private and voluntary sectors.

Councillor Gavin Smithers

Rockford Close

Oakenshaw South