Brent Labour's consideration of free schools confirmed

Brent and Kilburn Times, April 5th, 2012

This week's Brent and Kilburn Times carries front page coverage of the story I initially broke on March 6th LINK about Brent Labour considering setting up a free school to address the shortage of school places. They don't give an account of  the row I reported within the Labour group on March 9th LINK but quote lead member for Children and Families, Cllr Mary Arnold, on the dilemma facing the Council.

Although no decision has been made as yet, Arnold fears that free schools could be forced 'upon us' and states that the council wants free schools to have a connection with the local authority: 'we are taking a responsible look at providing places for our children. A lot of councils are looking for partners'.

Labour's stance on this hasn't been helped by Michael Gove's Labour shadow, Stephen Twigg's ambivalence on he issue. He told the BBC on March 20th that more places to address the shortage should be funded, rather than building of free schools, stating that these would not necessarily be provided in the areas of greatest need. LINK  However he went on to say that some of the schools built could be free schools.

This still leaves unanswered the issue of democratic accountability, selection by the back door, and the undermining of the local authority's ability to coherently plan school places provision.

I wrote on March 9th:

This debate need to move outside the Labour Party so that Brent teachers and parents have a say in the future of educational provision in the borough. Free schools do not have the democratic accountability of local authority schools, take a disproportionate amount of funding and open the way to experimental teaching and curricula with a potentially damaging impact on children. As with the ARK Academy the first free school in Brent will open the way for others to follow, producing an ad hoc competitive system where working class children may well lose out.

This view is echoed in the Brent and Kilburn Times editorial this week:

Not only do the teaching unions and their members need to play an integral part in the decision-making process, but parents must be allowed to air their concerns too. After all, it will be their children who will be expected to attend any free school that opens in Brent.

We must ensure that this is one issue on which the Council must be fully transparent.

Brent Labour's poor geography

Comments are closed on the Brent Labour blog LINK otherwise I would have posted a correction on the site.

They state that Labour Barnhill by-election candidate, Michael Pavey is 'the Chair of Wembley Primary School in Barnhill'. In fact of course Wembley Primary is not in Barnhill but in the heart of Preston ward. Michael lives in Kilburn.

Brace yourselves for visits to Brent by cabinet ministers

David Cameron at the Swaminarayan Temple

If the Independent  LINK is to be believed Brent residents need to brace themselves for visits from Tory cabinet ministers looking for the ethnic vote.   Learning from the 'success' of the Conservative Canadian government  they are seeking to build on what they claim is a fit between Conservative values on the family and law and order in an effort to prise them away from Labour. In the 2010 General Election only 6% of BME (black and minority ethnic) voters voted Conservative against 37% of white voters.

Action is now seen as urgent following the collapse of the Conservative vote in Bradford West. Conservative co-chairman, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi said:

We need to learn from centre-right parties in other countries how to attract votes who share our values but haven't traditionally voted Conservative. And we need to go out and persuade those voters that a Conservative government is the best way of fulfilling their aspirations for themselves, their families and their communities.

However this strategy may not be welcomed by all Tories. Warsi herself has been under attack from the party's right-wing.  An article in the current New Statesman LINK states:

Judged by the intensity and sheer volume of the anti-Warsi vitriol, it is difficult to come to any other conclusion that her critics don't like her because she ticks three very un-Tory boxes: she is female, Asian and Muslim. Since it is 2012 and they can't say as much in public, her right-wing opponents target instead her alleged lack of 'competence' and 'ability'.

Interestingly in the same edition of the New Statesman Salma Yaqoob, reviewing the Bradford West result, remarks that the Labour Party has for generations 'relied on and reinforced the corrupting influence of biraderi - clan networks - that so disfigure south Asian politics'. The by-election result marks the community's break with Labour.

Although the Conservatives will have their eye on Brent North, held years ago by right-wing Tory Rhodes Boyson, the reality is that the local Conservative Party is very weak, with just a rump left on the council, and Barry Gardiner, helped by boundary changes, strengthened his grip on the constituency against the trend at the General Election. At 62.3% Brent North has the 4th highest BME population and Brent Central is 7th at 53%.

There are pitfalls in this strategy, not least the reaction of right-wingers. The YouTube videos of Cameron's 2008 visit to the Swaminarayna Temple attracted many racist comments as well as, somewhat oddly, anti-Muslim rants. The Daily Mail, even more bizarrely, for the April 2010 visit by the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown, focused on the poor state of Mrs Brown's feet, revealed when she took her shoes off to enter the temple! LINK

Jenny Jones 'breath of fresh air"

"Jenny Jones, the Green party mayoral candidate for London, came out of the first hustings in the election campaign on Tuesday smelling of roses, or daffodils, or some other kind of green and verdant plant.

While Boris and Ken blustered and argued the toss over figures and tax affairs, Jones came across as the voice of calm - and Twitter certainly seemed to find her a breath of fresh air."

 For more of the Huffington Post interview with Jenny Jones follow this LINK