The Labour Party has been trying to divest itself of any blame for the shortage of school places. They typically deploy this tactic. When anything go wrong they are never to blame but are responsible for anything that want to be seen as responsible for. Critics however blame Labour’s policies on immigration and education when they were in power between 1997 and 2010.
Nicky Morgan, whom recently replaced Michael Gove as Education Secretary, has claimed that Labour is responsible for the current crisis in primary school places because cut school places in a baby boom. Labour typically blame the next government when the negative effects of its policy come into effect even though they clearly forgot that the children these were produced by the baby boom would one day go to school.
It has been claimed that a quarter of a million extra school places would be needed for the 2014/15 intake. The reason why is sharp rise in the number of school-age children in Britain. Children are less likely in many parts of the country to get their first choice primary, would have to travel longer distances to get to school, be taught in mobile or oversized classes once they got into one (National Audit Office; Department of Education). Children reaching school age now would have been born under a Labour government.
How is Labour Responsible?
Labour’s policies rapidly increased demand because of its immigration policies. It not only admitted everyone who wanted to come in but it actually sent out search parties to look for potential migrants, according to Peter Mandelson. According to the Office of National Statistics Labour let in a extra 4 million people in just 12 years. Labour, in all its cynicism, hoped to create a more reliable Labour-voting base than the white working class whose voting patterns had allowed non-Labour governments.
These migrants would be overwhelmingly of child-bearing age, and would have more children than indigenous women whom have a below replacement fertility rate, which is endangering our position as a majority in our own country. Between 1998 and 2008 (when Labour was in power) total births in this country increased even though births by UK-born women fell by 3.2%. This is because the birth-rate amongst foreign-born women rose by 134%. Foreign-born women’s proportion of births as whole increased from 14% in 1994 to 25% in 2009 (Migrationwatch.org/briefingPaper/document/204). Today it stands at 26% even though total number of births to foreign-born mothers fell. The migrants whom Labour let into the country raised the birth-rate significantly in a short amount of time.
By absolving itself of responsibility it hopes to get back in so it can finish the demographic transformation even though it has no need to worry because Cameron is prepared to do that for them. Immigration to March 2014 was 234,000.
There are other factors, of course, but it is undeniable that Labour’s policies are responsible for a significant part of it. Other factors includes the number of over 40s having children (something to celebrate if they are indigenous) but immigration accounts for over half of the population increase (ONS). This population increase includes children brought over and subsequently born to these migrants.
It has been pointed out that the worst shortages are in areas that had the biggest increase in population due to migration. Areas of London, Birmingham and Peterborough, particularly since the admission of east Europeans in 2004, have seen rapid population increases, and shortage of school places.
Labour blames the present government. Margaret Hodge blamed the Tories for not funding school places (they should now that they are needed and tackle immigration to control demand), but they failed to foresee that the new population would have children since they claimed that migrants wouldn’t generally settle, and would intend to just work and pay for our public services. This was Labour doing what it does best -lying. At the same time they let in large families so it would have been obvious that there was an intention to settle.
Tristram Hunt blames free schools. His logic is that free schools are built where they are not needed and that therefore schools are not built where they are needed. Maybe or maybe not, but this does not change the fact that the Labour Party’s policies rapidly increased demand and it did not plan for when the children of the migrants that they let in would reach school-age.
Labour is responsible for the current problems over school places and its denial of this fact is down to its tendency to distance itself from unpopular effects of its policies and blame someone more convenient – and claim credit for anything it wants to.
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