Choice must be restored

Clare's letter shows she thinks her job as our MP's bag carrier entitles her to bad mouth democratic opposition to the mess Labour are making of education.

But the muddled Redditch Review has consequences for our children which won't go away.

And this Labour administration, which said it "would never force a good school to close", will be judged on what happens next.

A Redditch child has 10 per cent less than the average in England spent on his or her education. That's Labour policy and they don't know when they're going to change it.

Wouldn't it be odd if a Government minister who, very recently, was in their education team, took on a "fight for fairer funding" without being sure there was money on the way?

And if she KNOWS that the annual top-up to the very low SSA in Worcestershire will come again next spring, then - as Clare admits - asking parents to beg for this money is a cynical, "political", trick.

Actually, with all Labour's tax rises, it will be an insult to our children if there isn't a huge cash boost in the new year for Redditch schools.

My children need a climate where they can learn, teachers can teach and the disruptive minority can't call the tune.

Clare and her friends in Government have undermined teachers' authority and done nothing to make parents responsible for their children's conduct.

So I despair of the prospects for Redditch children to reach their full potential under a Government which believes everyone's the same and resents those who have individual needs. (By the way, that's every child).

What I don't despair of is the ability of Conservative councillors in Redditch to provide better services than the jaded Labour Group, or the promise that a Conservative Government, which recognises people are all different, would restore the choice parents so desperately need for their children.

Councillor Gavin Smithers

Oakenshaw South