Keegan urged to apologise for ‘needless’ disruption caused by teacher strikes
The Education Secretary defended her record, highlighting additional funding, improvements in childcare services and a pay rise for teachers.
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Your support makes all the difference.Labour has urged the Education Secretary to apologise for the “completely needless and avoidable disruption” caused by the teacher strikes.
Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson accused the Government of being aware of the impending strike action for months but only resolving the dispute last week.
In response, Gillian Keegan defended her record, highlighting the provision of additional funding, improvements in childcare services and a significant pay raise for teachers.
The Government reached an agreement with England’s four school teaching and leadership unions, securing a comprehensive 6.5% pay increase for all teachers starting from September, along with a higher raise for new teachers, raising their starting salary to £30,000 per year. Additionally, mid-career teachers can expect a pay rise ranging from £2,500 to £3,000 annually.
Speaking during education questions, Ms Phillipson said: “Ministers have known since last year that strike action by teachers was likely. Yet, after months of refusing to talk, it was only last week that the Secretary of State finally settled the dispute.
“So will she now take this opportunity to apologise to parents for the completely needless and avoidable disruption to their children’s education that she is responsible for?”
Ms Keegan said: “Since I have come into this job at the end of October, the unions asked for an extra £2 billion. I delivered it. Families asked for childcare. I delivered it. The STRB (School Teachers’ Review Body) asked for 6.5% for teachers. I delivered it. It had to be funded. I delivered it.
“I have worked to deliver every single day in this job whereas she can’t even decide whether she will accept 6.5% or not.”
In a continued clash in the Commons, Ms Phillipson also urged Ms Keegan to distance herself from the “private schools lobby” and adopt Labour’s plan to drive up standards in schools.
She said: “Last week, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said that ending private schools’ tax breaks will raise up to £1.5 billion in additional revenue, confirming that Labour’s plans are fiscally credible. We would use that money to invest in 6,500 new expert teachers and better mental health support for all of our young people.
“So will the Secretary of State now distance herself from the discredited claims of the private schools lobby, do the right thing and adopt Labour’s plan to drive up standards in our school?”
Ms Keegan said: “Labour have never driven up standards in our schools. Most of our private schools are nothing like Eton or Harrow. They’re far smaller and they charge a lot less. Many cost the same as a family holiday abroad or there’s plenty of parents who choose to forego life’s luxuries to give their children these opportunities.
“The IFS also said that the effect might be larger in the long to medium term. And there is still lots of uncertainty around these estimates… Labour’s tax hikes are nothing more than the politics of envy.
“As Margaret Thatcher once said, the spirit of envy can only destroy, it can never build.”
Elsewhere during the session, Labour MP Valerie Vaz (Walsall South) raised concerns over how the rise promised to teachers in England will be funded, asking Ms Keegan where “exactly” she found the money.
Ms Keegan said: “We have very constructive relationships with the Treasury, whether that’s on childcare, school funding, extra budgeting, and in this particular case, what we have done and, you know, this is something I have done many times in my 30-year business career, we have gone through every single line of the budget.”
She added: “We have basically protected frontline and we have reprioritised and what has changed is Treasury have allowed us to keep that money to reprioritise.”