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Theresa May suggests university shouldn't be only way to success - politics live Theresa May speaking in Derby to set out tuition fee plans - politics live
(35 minutes later)
The foreign secretary has compared a dead monkey’s head to a Labour backbencher. May repeats her “other people’s children” line from earlier, saying the country needs to recognise the alternative of a technical education.
The UK’s chief diplomat muttered the remark after asking officers what species a trophy monkey was during a visit to a police unit that confiscates wildlife products, Press Association reports. A police officer suggested a macaque, but Boris Johnson said: May invokes the image of a second child: a middle class girl who wants to be a software developer, but who is told she must go to university, rather than following a different path.
Neither situation is beneficial for the country, May says.
May asks her audience to imagine a working class boy who aspires to make it in the legal profession. His road will be more challenging than that of a boy from private school, she says.
May says that working class boy from Derby who wants to become lawyer has odds stacked against him, quoting over representation of privately educated in top universities.
Pm references her 1997 maiden speech on education when she says she argued that every child should get right opportunities- whether vocational or academic. Trying to stress that this is something that genuinely drives her.
May says the students she has met today in London and Derby will be starting their careers in the “new economies” that will emerge in the next decade or two. The Britain of the 2020s will be outside the European Union that will have different relationships with nations across the world.
May is opening her speech at Derby college. As my colleague Anushka Asthana points out, there are not many students in the audience.
Half term at Derby college - so not sure there are many students here to watch the pm and education secretary @DamianHinds pic.twitter.com/lP665l54nL
The education minister, Damian Hinds, is at the podium in Derby, where Theresa May is about to give her much-trailed speech on the government’s post-18 education review. Anyone needing a primer would do well to start here:
Downing Street has dismissed calls for an early Commons vote on plans to cut the number of MPs from 650 to 600 (See 10.38am). The prime minister’s spokesman said she remained committed to delivering “more equal and updated” constituency boundaries which better reflected the distribution of voters around the UK.
Asked whether Theresa May was planning to go ahead with the reforms set in train by her predecessor David Cameron, the spokesman said:
Yes. The Boundary Commission is due to report in September with their proposals for revised constituencies. The final proposals must then be debated and approved by Parliament for them to take effect.
We are committed to delivering more equal and updated boundaries so our parliamentary system represents everyone equally.
A new political party hoping to halt Brexit and run candidates in all 650 constituencies at the next general election was launched in Westminster today in an optimistic attempt to capitalise on what its leaders said was disenchantment with established political parties.
Renew has no high-profile candidates or donors and is led by three principals who have almost no previous political experience, although the philosopher AC Grayling was present at today’s launch, saying he was “rooting for” the party and any other anti-Brexit civil society initiative.
James Clarke, a principal and the party’s head of outreach, said he spoke to Labour voters furious that their party had been “hijacked by the hard left” and former Tory voters who were appalled at what they saw as “political cowardice” by the party’s pro-Brexit policy.
Any new political party faces the considerable challenge of winning meaningful support in the context of the first-past-the-post electoral system. Another of the party’s principals, James Torrance, stood as an independent in Kensington, west London, at the last election, winning 393 votes.
Renew says it has 1,000 supporters and has selected 200 candidates. Its organisers say they have been in dialogue with members of Emmanuel Macron’s La République En Marche movement in France, although it remains separate from the new technocratic party.
A third principal, Sandra Khadhouri, said she used to work in conflict zones for the UK government and international organisations. “My last job was working in Georgia for Nato. I had to decide which conflict zone to go to next, and I decided it had to be Britain.”
Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, has compared a dead monkey’s head to a Labour backbencher.
Johnson muttered the remark after asking officers what species a trophy monkey was during a visit to a police unit that confiscates wildlife products, Press Association reports. A police officer suggested a macaque, but Johnson said:
What’s this poor chap here? Faint air of a ... Labour backbencher.What’s this poor chap here? Faint air of a ... Labour backbencher.
He made the comment at the Metropolitan police’s wildlife crime unit in London, where some of the items recovered from raids on the black market are stored.He made the comment at the Metropolitan police’s wildlife crime unit in London, where some of the items recovered from raids on the black market are stored.
The former Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain has urged Labour to “lead the resistance” to any hard border on Ireland post-Brexit. Peter Hain, a former Northern Ireland secretary, has urged Labour to “lead the resistance” to any hard border on Ireland post-Brexit.
Hain swung behind the leader of the Irish nationalist party, the SDLP, which wrote to the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, today urging him to oppose a hard Brexit because of its implications for the Irish frontier. Hain swung behind the leader of the Irish nationalist party, the SDLP, which wrote to Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, today urging him to oppose a hard Brexit because of its implications for the Irish frontier.
The SDLP leader, Colum Eastwood, said in the letter that Brexit has the potential to “dismantle” the Good Friday agreement. Supporting Eastwood’s analysis, Hain said: Colum Eastwood, the SDLP leader, said in the letter that Brexit has the potential to “dismantle” the Good Friday agreement. Supporting Eastwood’s analysis, Hain said:
Colum Eastwood, of our sister party the SDLP, is right to warn of the dangers Brexit poses to the Northern Ireland peace process and to urge Labour to do all it can to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.Colum Eastwood, of our sister party the SDLP, is right to warn of the dangers Brexit poses to the Northern Ireland peace process and to urge Labour to do all it can to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.
The former secretary of state, who is a leading figure in the pro-European Open Britain group, added:The former secretary of state, who is a leading figure in the pro-European Open Britain group, added:
Labour must stand firmly behind the agreements between the British and Irish governments and the Northern Ireland parties on which the peace process rests. Already Brextremists on the Conservative benches are calling for these to be torn up precisely because they stand in the way of a hard Brexit.Labour must stand firmly behind the agreements between the British and Irish governments and the Northern Ireland parties on which the peace process rests. Already Brextremists on the Conservative benches are calling for these to be torn up precisely because they stand in the way of a hard Brexit.
Labour must lead the resistance any moves to a hard border and to insist that Theresa May stands up to the extremists in her party who insist on dragging her ever further to the right.Labour must lead the resistance any moves to a hard border and to insist that Theresa May stands up to the extremists in her party who insist on dragging her ever further to the right.
There’s been some reaction to the lines being trailed ahead of May’s speech on the post-18 education review, which due to be delivered in Derby this afternoon. The full details on what May is expected to say are here: There is been some reaction to the lines being trailed before Theresa May’s speech on the post-18 education review, which she is to give in Derby this afternoon. The full details on what May is expected to say are here:
Reacting to the news this afternoon, Nick Hillman, the director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said:Reacting to the news this afternoon, Nick Hillman, the director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said:
The key question is how much room for manoeuvre they (the review panel) are going to have in terms of public spending. The key question is how much room for manoeuvre they [the review panel] are going to have in terms of public spending.
He questioned whether the panel could be asked to come up with proposals that do not involve an increase in public spending or being allowed to “spend real money”.He questioned whether the panel could be asked to come up with proposals that do not involve an increase in public spending or being allowed to “spend real money”.
Sally Hunt, the general secretary of the University and College Union, said:Sally Hunt, the general secretary of the University and College Union, said:
The prime minister can complain about how we have one of the most expensive systems of university tuition in the world, but it was the Conservatives that introduced it and without a radical look at the whole system little can really change.The prime minister can complain about how we have one of the most expensive systems of university tuition in the world, but it was the Conservatives that introduced it and without a radical look at the whole system little can really change.
Worryingly, this review already looks like little more than finding new ways to cut spending on universities. Linking the price of some degrees to earnings is deeply flawed and fails to acknowledge the many factors which affect graduate income.Worryingly, this review already looks like little more than finding new ways to cut spending on universities. Linking the price of some degrees to earnings is deeply flawed and fails to acknowledge the many factors which affect graduate income.
Alistair Jarvis, the chief executive of vice-chancellors’ group Universities UK, said:Alistair Jarvis, the chief executive of vice-chancellors’ group Universities UK, said:
A cut in tuition fees may seem like an easy political solution, but it would see universities in England struggle to provide students with the world-class education they currently enjoy.A cut in tuition fees may seem like an easy political solution, but it would see universities in England struggle to provide students with the world-class education they currently enjoy.
Unless a cut to fees is met in full from other funding sources, we risk returning to a system where courses are seriously underfunded or the number of places capped. That would be bad for graduate skills and the economy, for social mobility and for student choice.Unless a cut to fees is met in full from other funding sources, we risk returning to a system where courses are seriously underfunded or the number of places capped. That would be bad for graduate skills and the economy, for social mobility and for student choice.
Here’s the full report on Theresa May’s appearance on This Morning this morning from my colleagues, Peter Walker and Jessica Elgot: Here’s the full report on Theresa May’s appearance on ITV’s This Morning programme today from my colleagues, Peter Walker and Jessica Elgot:
David Laws, who served as a Liberal Democrat minister in the coalition government that oversaw the hiking of tuition fees to £9,000 a year and now chairs the Education Policy Institute thinktank, warned against raising expectations of significant cuts to tuition fees.
The government needs to rescue its post-18 funding review from the major risk that it builds expectations of a significant and politically inspired cut to tuition fees, which would largely benefit higher earning graduates and do precious little to improve the UK’s social mobility, or our low skills post-16.
The prize here is the opportunity to improve the funding of post-18 technical education – possibly by squeezing the funding of the lower cost courses currently subsidised by £9,250 fees. Students also need much better information about the economic consequences of the courses and institutions which they select.
A little more detail on May’s comments on “old fashioned” attitudes about technical education. She told This Morning:
For a long time, I’ve worried about the fact that in this country we’re very good at saying academic education is good and for everybody, but we’ve never put sufficient emphasis on technical and vocational education.
The prime minister added:
We’ve got to break this old fashioned attitude that there’s only one way through in education, and we’ve got to say, I’ve always believed that what we should say is ‘what’s right for every young person? What’s right for every child?’ Because education can unlock the door of your future.
May was asked about the government’s plan to spend £5m – or £300 per primary school, as This Morning put it – on training teachers to spot mental health problems in children.
I have actually seen some of these teachers being trained in the mental health toolkit and what I found from them was that, actually, they welcomed the fact that they were being given this support because, often, it’s the teacher that the individual goes to.
Asked how the average of £300 per school is going to cover that, May said the teachers need training so they can help young people who do come forward to them. But she offered no specifics in response to the question.
And that’s that. In all, there wasn’t much more detail on May’s priority for the day: the education review. But she did cover mental health care and bullying; more of which we’ll bring you soon.
Asked if she’s enjoying her job, the prime minister says yes. “There’s huge issues to be dealing with but it’s worthwhile,” she adds.
Schofield asks May if she doesn’t spend a lot of her time looking behind her to “make sure someone isn’t about to stab you in the back”. No, May insists, she is getting on with the job.
Asked if she can “hang on”, if she “feels secure”, she says: “Yes, I’m doing the job.”
The prime minister is discussing keeping young people safe online. Schofield asks her whether a single national government can do that. “We have to start here and we have to then work with the companies themselves,” she says.
May is being asked about mental health care and dealing with bullying. She says some schools do not want to admit the latter is happening in their institutions because of concerns about what it will say about the school.
May says a lot of people have been encouraged to go to university, even if it’s not the right path for them.
Asked if it would be possible to become prime minister without a university education, Theresa May says yes and cites one of her predecessors, John Major. But she agrees with Philip Schofield that Major is in a class of one in that respect in recent British history.
May says “some issues have arise” with the fees regime the government of which she was a senior member introduced.
Asked about reintroducing maintenance grants, which Labour have promised to do, May says it is one of the issues the review will consider.
Theresa May is now on the sofa. She’s discussing the review of post-18 education. May says she understands the concerns around the debts people build up but also wants to look at routes into technical education, rather than university.
Asked if she thinks there’s an element of snobbery, she says some people think technical education is for “other people’s children” and we need to remove the stigma.