Laura Trott MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, CPC 2025 Speech

Laura Trott MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, CPC 2025 Speech

“Conference, hello.

It is an honour to be addressing you as Shadow Education Secretary, it's a job I've always dreamed of doing.

Well, Education Secretary would obviously be better but I'm working on it.

There are three people on my mind as I speak to you today, three people who have shaped my thinking, whose stories I want to replicate up and down the country.

The first is a girl called Celine, who I heard about from her headteacher.

She lived in a dangerous council estate in Sheffield.

The closest school to her home just wasn't delivering for children.

It was unsafe, with dismal results and terrible behaviour.

And it had been that way for years, as was the case with all the schools in the area.

That is, until the arrival of the free schools programme –  a Conservative policy – pioneered by the formidable force of Michael Gove and Nick Gibb.

Thanks to them, a brilliant headteacher called Dean Webster was able to establish Mercia School.

When Mercia opened, Celine got her sliding doors moment: a chance to go to a different, better school.

When she started at the new school, the headteacher Dean went to visit Celine in her flat.

He told me about how, on his way there, he passed gangs on the corner, had to step over people passed out on drugs.

It was a glimpse into the world that was waiting for Celine. But, through a traditional academic education, a longer school day and zero tolerance for bad behaviour, Mercia School passed Celine a lifeline

And I couldn't be more pleased to tell you, that this summer, Celine got top A-Level results and is now going on to study Law at University.

A brilliant school set her on a very different path, a school which didn't exist 15 years ago and would never have existed without Conservatives in Government. That is the difference that we can make.

The second person whose story I would like to share today is a young boy I met in Ilford. I'll call him Mason, but that wasn't his real name.

He had a horrendous home life and, for understandable reasons, was acting out terribly at school.

He just wasn't coping.

He was making life a misery – and learning impossible. Not just for him but for the other 29 children in his class too.

Enough was enough, and Mason was rightly removed from mainstream and placed in alternative provision for children with behavioural problems.

And that's where I met him.  This specialist provision helped changed his life. It was his version of intensive care, helping him to get back on his feet, with the highly specialist support that he needed, and so craved.

There are too many that think it is compassionate to keep a child like Mason in mainstream school – at the expense not just of his future,  but that of his classmates' futures too.

So let me tell you what real compassion looks like:

It's taking Mason out of a setting that was failing him, letting him get the extra support he clearly needed.

That is what we need to fight for, for children like Mason. 

And the third person whose story I would like to share is a teacher called Kat.

I met Kat at a recent visit to her school Trinity -  a free school in a deprived area in Leeds where she is the Principal.

61% of her pupils are disadvantaged, over 70% don't have English as their first language.

But Kat radiates passion about her school, her teachers and her students, and her energy is infectious.

She was rightly so proud of the curriculum they have developed, the high standards of behaviour that they expect from every student, the results they are seeing every day, which far outstrip anything previously achieved in the local area.

Results, I might add, that they can only achieve because of the freedoms that come with being an academy.

Freedoms that I refuse to let the Labour Government just take away casually without any thought for the consequences.

Celine, Mason and Kat – I am in their service, and the thousands like them.

They are why I do this job.

Unlike Bridget Philipson I will never come to work only thinking about the unions.

Conference we know that this Party – the Conservative Party – is the true party of opportunity.

We know it's not about where you've come from – but where you're going.

You shouldn't be defined by who your parents are or where you were born – but by your ideas and what you've got to contribute.

That is why the Conservative Party is the party of opportunity. We the Conservatives never succumb to the soft bigotry of low expectations – because we believe that every child should have a chance in life.

And reforming schools unleashes opportunity. Plain and simple.

But it's not enough just to believe in public service reform – the inconvenient reality, and other parties might want to note - is you actually have to have a plan to deliver it too.

And that is exactly what the Conservatives in Government did.

An Academies Act passed in 77 days.

Hundreds of new free schools.

Thousands of new academies.

A rigorous curriculum.

High quality technical education.

Tougher exams.

Better teaching standards.

Phonics.

A stop to grade inflation.

Calculators in exams thrown out.

Millions more children in good and outstanding schools.

That is what Conservatives did in Government.

We reformed schools – and…guess what… standards went through the roof.

Those schools have improved not through words…but through strong accountability, academic rigour, rigorous inspection and freedoms.

And crucially, all of that happens with teachers, not bureaucrats, in control.

Conference, under us, English children became the best at reading and maths in the western world.

This is an achievement that other countries marvel at… They look to us as an example of what they want to replicate in their schools.

Eager to learn how this was achieved. But unbelievably all of the reforms are under threat.

Under threat from a Labour Party who believe in backing unions over backing children a Labour Party that even booed one of Britain's best headteachers in the House of Commons – simply because she runs a school that was opened by a Conservative Government.

The only consistent strand of this Labour Government is that union demands come ahead of the interests of children in this country.

It should be of no surprise to anyone that Bridget Phillipson is running to be deputy leader of the Labour Party.

As Education Secretary, she has spent more time appeasing union bosses than standing up for children.

From the outset, her loyalties were very clear.

In the first few months she held dozens of meetings with union leaders, allowing them to write her policies.

And what was the result?

A Schools Bill that nobody voted for.

Botched Ofsted reforms.

A dumbing down of standards.

And a misguided curriculum review.

Every single time the Education Secretary

has been confronted with a tough decision,

she has capitulated to the left.

This might help with her deputy leadership election

But it doesn't help children at school.

In all the chaos that is going on in the world, we have to just stop and realise the extent of the damage that Labour are doing to school children and that starts with unpicking our school reforms.

There is no evidence that Labour's so-called reforms driven by unions will improve a single school. Not any.

The sad fact is,  we already have a live case study of why Labour's changes won't work. And it's a little over 40 miles away from this hall.

Over the border, children in Labour-run Wales are being let down. They're untouched by the education revolution seen here in England. Unfortunately, Wales has seen plummeting standards and poorer outcomes.

Just look at this graph. Instead of learning what not to do from Wales, The Education Secretary is inexplicably, repeating the very same policies. The very same mistakes.

And why? Because union bosses want her to.

Trading policy for their votes.

And all to the detriment of children's education.

Shame on the Labour Party.

Shame on them for letting that waste of potential happen here.

Labour are turning their backs on everything we know improves schools, everything that people in this hall have worked so hard for, everything that Celine, Mason and Kat need.

This is a quiet betrayal of all children, but it's the poorest who will be most affected.

This is nothing less than education vandalism.

And, Conference, together with my brilliant shadow Education team - Diana, Saqib, Rebecca and Jack - we will fight it every step of the way.

Let me turn now to one of the key problems facing our schools: behaviour.

We must make sure that every child who goes to school is given the chance to learn, from excellent teachers and without fear for their safety.

I went to a good comprehensive, with some brilliant teachers to whom I am extremely grateful.

But I also saw the consequences of bad behaviour.

I can tell you, being at a school where teachers are sometimes locked in cupboards, things are thrown in the classroom and fights break out in the hallway does not make it easy to learn, or for teachers to teach.

The truth is that children cannot learn if they are stuck in a chaotic environment where bad behaviour runs rife.

You'd think that this is obvious - but not, it seems, unfortunately, to the Labour Party.

Sadiq Khan thinks that when you bring a knife into a classroom you shouldn't be expelled.

Andy Burnham, who has been a popular topic of conversation recently, called for the end to pupil referral units, so no more expulsions for the most disruptive pupils. That's mad.

And north of the border in Scotland,

The SNP have actively sought to keep disruptive pupils in mainstream schools – to the point where last year just a single pupil was permanently excluded over a whole academic year, across the whole of Scotland.

Conference, turning a blind eye to aggression, disruption or violence is not moral leadership, it is an abdication of responsibility.

Pursuing inclusion at the expense of order is the opposite of compassion.

It abandons that child who needs real specialist help and who is crying out for support.

So, instead of this leftwing nonsense, we have a blueprint to improve discipline, building on the work of the last Government.

It starts with being honest about the need for permanent exclusions.

We can't shy away from setting clear boundaries, for excluding pupils when they have been extremely violent or are carrying a knife.

This is not about giving up on those children. It is actually the opposite.

Children must learn that actions have consequences. That is just how the world works.

So, under the Conservatives, our policy is simple: one knife and you are out.

If you assault a teacher then you are out.

If you sexually assault someone then you are out.

If you've been expelled from not just one but two mainstream schools, then it's clear, mainstream classrooms aren't for you.

If children bring knives into the classroom, then they shouldn't be there.

If they are violent, then they shouldn't be there.

And under the Conservatives, they won't be there.

But the important piece of the jigsaw here is that, once children have been excluded, it is our duty to them and their future to give them the support that they need, moving them into specialist alternative provision,  where they stand a real chance of success.

Staff in these settings work with extraordinary dedication to turn around the lives of children.

I've seen this first hand. When done well, it is a quality of education that can be tailored to their needs.

I saw that with Mason. But we need more places like this.

It is clear to me that there is not enough high-quality alternative provision, and as a result disruptive pupils are being kept in mainstream education for far too long.

Our blueprint will create more high-quality places in alternative provision – reducing disruption for the many who suffer from it and delivering specialist support for the few who need it.

And every local area should have specialist provision, partnering with football teams and sports clubs who are brilliant at engaging young people.

Just, yesterday, I visited Old Trafford and saw the amazing work that Manchester United Foundation are doing to do just that, providing young people with role models, mentors, routine and discipline. This should be everywhere.

And girls should have separate provision from violent young men. And we should push standards up through every academy chain, partnering with one.

We should make alternative provision independent of local authorities. We should make sure that every provider is registered so that every setting is inspected by Ofsted so that there is proper accountability and rigour, especially in those settings for some of the most disadvantaged and challenged children.

And we must ensure that those children, especially the most violent, are turning up to their alternative provision, that they are not slipping off out of sight and into criminality.

Because we believe children should be in the classroom, not on the street. Fines should be issued automatically when they are not there, because these children need help, and we need to ensure they get it

and they only get it if they turn up.

If we do all this, we can show compassion for those who need it the most, not by some false inclusivity that damages everyone but by challenging and actually fixing the behavioural issues.

Now, let me come on to another problem that is causing behaviour issues: smartphones.

Time after time, teachers have told me that smartphones are one of the biggest causes of bad behaviour.

The government's own research show that they disrupt nearly half of GCSE classes every single day.

Look abroad: in Portugal, schools that banned smartphones saw a huge drop in bullying.

Australia, Norway, Finland, France – all tightening restrictions on smartphones.

Meanwhile Labour just ignore our calls for action.

The single biggest thing Labour could do, right now, to improve behaviou is to get smartphones out of the classroom.

And yet, the Prime Minister says a ban is ‘unnecessary'.

Bridget Phillipson calls it a ‘gimmick'.

And while they stick their heads in the sand

Who suffers the most?

It's the most disadvantaged.

When I first started going into schools to talk about this to the students, I didn't necessary expect to be the most popular person.

Taking away smartphones from teenagers is not something you think will go down particularly well.

Yet I have been overwhelmed by the response.

The most frequent reaction from students after a ban has been put in place is one of pure relief.

I will never forget the face of one boy when he told me that it made him feel safe.

Young people don't want this to be an issue that they are having to deal with. They want the adults to sort this out.

So I am speaking to Bridget Phillipson directly now:

For goodness sake just get on and do it.

Now, the sad truth is this: we've had broken promise after broken promise from the Department for Education.

You simply cannot trust Bridget Phillipson when she says that she is going to improve our schools.

Conference, you all know about Labour's plans to become the only country in Europe to tax education.

It was one of their core manifesto pledges. And one of their most vindictive.

Because the result of their attack on the independent sector is not more teachers in state schools, but fewer. 400 fewer to be precise.

And we haven't got better state school system from Labour's education tax. We've just got more crowding in classrooms. Because independent schools are closing at a record rate.

Pressure is being piled on the state sector in a way that teachers across the school system warned about.

The Prime Minister himself admitted money isn't going to state schools.

Conference – and I promise you I am not making this up – instead of using the money to hire more teachers as the manifesto said. The Prime Minister is using the money to house illegal migrants.

Under the Conservatives we will never tax education to make our state schools worse off.

Conference, as I have laid out for you today, by blindly following trade union orthodoxy, Labour are taking us backwards.

It took real courage and conviction for us to get those school reforms through 15 years ago. Headlines of local papers at the time read: “Hands off our failing schools.”

Unions were allergic to the change, competition and accountability.

Decades on and now Labour's stated ambition for their so-called reforms is to create “more consistency” in the education system. Not excellence.

In practice, that means levelling down across the board

In recent decades, parents and children have voted with their feet.

Bad schools closed. Good schools thrived. That is the strength of choice. Those are Conservative principles in action.

Labour's Schools Bill rips that apart, handing local authorities sweeping new powers - not only to block good schools from growing, but even to stop an outstanding school from keeping the same number of pupils. This is madness.

It risks shattering the life chances of some of our most deprived children.

We know that turning failing schools into academies is the single most effective way of helping children.

Yet Labour will keep children trapped in failing schools for longer, denying them the opportunity that they deserve.

This will be Labour's record.

That will be Bridget Phillipson's legacy.

And that is why we must fight them all the way.

Fight the education vandalism of Bridget Phillipson, who puts the unions' interests above British interests, above the interests of Celine, Mason and Kat.

Teachers deserve better. The next generation deserves better. Our country deserves better.

It is the Conservatives who have reformed education for the better before.

And we will do so again.

Thank you.”