New Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has appointed Lucy Powell as his Party’s Education Spokesperson. Lucy Powell entered Parliament in 2012 and previously served as Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office.
Education policy watchers now await further information on how the Party’s positions may modify. In an early sign of a change, Ms Powell said in an interview published in today’s TES that her Party would seek to bring academy schools under local authority control. Academies, which are state funded independent schools, were first created under a previous Labour Government.
Jeremy Corbyn has previously expressed support for the Accord Coalition’s objectives, having signed a 2009 Early Day Motion that welcomed the creation of Accord and supported its key aims. A keen Early Day Motion signatory, he also co-sponsored an Early Day Motion in 2013 that welcomed the Fair Admissions Campaign and supported its goal of ending religious selection in faith school admissions.
Chair of the Accord Coalition, Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, said ‘We will follow closely how Labour policy may develop and change, including how it may adapt to Britain’s increasing diversity.’
