THE Tories have totally botched the Wyre Forest schools review. There is no public demand to get rid of our brilliant middle schools or to close excellent first schools.

Many of the very youngest children will have to travel further to get to school and changed catchment areas will make it harder to get children into your school of choice.

Slashing high school intake will weaken sixth forms and prevent many parents from sending youngsters to their preferred high school. This flies in the face of both Labour and Tory national policy to let successful schools expand.

County Tory bosses have ignored public opinion, damaged teacher morale, undermined local communities and done nothing to improve standards.

There is absolutely no guarantee that the millions of pounds needed for the rebuilding to complete the Wyre Forest review will become available in the immediate future. This could leave high schools stranded on split sites for years to come.

We need an urgent package of measures to sort out the mess and ensure that local parents, local communities and local children get the schools that they really need.

Nationally, the Labour Government, and locally, the out-of-touch Tory Worcestershire County Council, seem hell-bent on destroying excellent special schools and forcing vulnerable youngsters into under-resourced mainstream schools. Parents must have the right to insist on special schools, where necessary.

Furthermore, all our children have a right to the same funding from central Government as children in other parts of the country.

As the Liberal Party's national spokesman on education, it is my job to hammer home our message on education:

l Scrap university tuition and top-up fees. The burden of debt is discouraging many young people from going to university.

l Introduce more apprenticeships to ensure that we have enough highly skilled and qualified crafts people.

l The closer to local communities and the further away from Whitehall that educational decisions are taken, the better. We need a locally run service, answerable to local people.

l Get rid of league tables and the constant testing of our children. Back teachers, not league tables, to improve standards.

l We will not accept indiscipline in schools. It has got to stop because it stops other children learning.

l Reform 14-19 education to give equal value to vocational and academic education and encourage introduction of the International Baccalaureate until a UK version is available.

l Use extended schools and Early Years centres to bring health, social care and education together onto joint sites.

l Scrap the trust fund gimmick and spend the money where it will do more good, on more and better Early Years centres.

l Take the Early Years and foundation curriculum out of the straitjacket of the National Curriculum.

l We welcome the Government's belated commitment to improving school meals but it is not nearly enough. Here in Worcestershire, the Tories ripped the kitchens out of our first schools and it will cost a lot to put that right.