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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

May plans to open new grammar schools, confidential document reveals - as it happened

Justine Greening, the new education secretary. A confidential document shows she has drawn up plans for new grammar schools.
Justine Greening, the new education secretary. A confidential document shows she has drawn up plans for new grammar schools. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

Afternoon summary

It is ridiculous that after a full two months waiting to get even the barest bones of what their Brexit plans are, ministers are still ‘just expressing opinions’. If the Brexit secretary doesn’t know what government policy on Brexit is then who does ? It is ludicrous.

There is clearly utter confusion at the heart of the UK government and on a matter so desperately important – with businesses and people across the UK as a whole looking for some degree of clarity – that is deeply worrying.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

And here is Sam Freedman, a former special adviser to Michael Gove when Gove was education secretary, on the grammar school “leak”. He is now executive director at Teach First.

Kevin Courtney, the National Union of Teachers’ general secretary, has put out a lengthy statement condemning the plans to open new grammar schools. Here is an extract.

Opening new grammar schools would not only be a backward step but is also a complete distraction from the real problems facing schools and education. For every grammar school there are three or four ‘secondary modern’ schools. All the evidence makes clear that segregating children in this way leads to lower academic standards. The argument that grammar schools create ‘social mobility’ are, in the words of the Ofsted chief inspector, ‘tosh and nonsense’. Evidence shows that in areas which retain grammar schools, disadvantaged students – who are eligible for FSM or who live in poor neighbourhoods – are much less likely to be enrolled, even if they score highly on Key Stage 2 tests.

On the Andrew Marr show on Sunday Theresa May was asked directly if she intended to allow more grammar schools to open.

The Jonathan Slater document (see 3.55pm) suggests the answer is clearly yes.

But May sidestepped the question. She replied:

What I want to do in looking at schools is to build on the success of the six years of David Cameron’s premiership when we see – now see more children in good and outstanding schools. But there is still more to be done. There are still parents who feel that their children aren’t getting the opportunities they want them to have because of what happened to their local school. So I want to make sure that children have those opportunities, that all schools are offering a good education for children.

May also said Justine Greening, the new education secretary, was “looking at these issues”. The Marr transcript is here (pdf).

Here is Newsnight’s Chris Cook on the grammar schools story.

And here is Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary, condemning the plans.

The cat is out of the bag: behind closed doors the Tories are planning a return to the bad old days of grammars, ignoring all the evidence which has told us time and again that they do not aid social mobility.

As Michael Wilshaw said yesterday, with every grammar school you open you create three more secondary moderns with it. It’s a policy which reveals the truth of this Tory Government: caring only for the few at the expense of the majority.

The Tories have overseen a school places crisis, the highest rate of teachers leaving the profession in a decade and over half a million pupils in super-sized classes. These issues should be her priority, not harking back to a golden-age that never existed.

Labour is committed to an education system for everyone, not just a select few.

Angela Rayner
Angela Rayner. Photograph: Christopher Thomond

John Pugh, the Lib Dem education spokesman, has put out a statement condemning the plans to open new grammar schools.

This lays bare the desperate lengths the Conservative party are willing to go to deliver grammar schools through the cloak of expansion.

The government should be ashamed of themselves. If they think this is the right thing to do, they should bring it to Parliament and win the argument.

This looks like a desperate plan to avoid parliamentary scrutiny and an inevitable defeat.

This rose tinted view of grammar schools might play well for a nostalgic few on the right of the Tory party but make no mistake about it, they are not the drivers of social mobility they would like to claim. The Liberal Democrats believe in opportunity for all and this will not deliver it.

If the government is committed to increasing social mobility, then the key is investing in children from more disadvantaged backgrounds, through Liberal Democrat measures like the pupil premium.

Government plans to open new grammar school, confidential document reveals

The government is planning to bring back grammar schools, according to official paperwork seen by journalists. An official was carrying the document as he arrived at Number 10 today as the cabinet was meeting and he was photographed.

The text was posted on Twitter by the photographer Steve Back, who runs the @PoliticalPics Twitter account.

The document was written by Jonathan Slater, permanent secretary at the Department for Education. It says:

The con doc [consultation document] says we will open new grammars, albeit that they would have to follow various conditions.

The SoS’s [Secretary of State’s] clear position is that this should be presented in the con doc as an option, and only to be pursued once we have worked with existing grammars to show how they can be expanded and reformed in ways which avoid disadvantaging those who don’t get in.

I simply don’t know what the PM thinks of this, but it sounds reasonable to me, and I simply can’t see any way of persuading the Lords to vote for selection on any other basis.

The government is not denying that it plans to open new grammar schools.

UPDATE: Originally this post said Earl Howe, the deputy leader of the Lords, was carrying the document into Number 10 when it was photographed but that was a mistake. I’ve amended it. These are from Huffington Post’s Paul Waugh.

Updated

Tim Loughton's tribute to Keith Vaz

Here is an extract from Tim Loughton’s tribute to Keith Vaz. Loughton, a Conservative, has taken over as acting chair of the home affairs committee pending the election of a full-time replacement. He was speaking to journalists in Portcullis House, Westminster, flanked by other committee members after the committee’s private meeting where Vaz confirmed his resignation. Loughton said:

Keith Vaz came to the meeting of the select committee. He gave a very frank account of what had happened and he told us of his intention to resign as chairman of the home affairs select committee ...

The committee listened, I think in sadness, to what Keith had to say and with a good deal of respect. Keith has clearly acted in the best interests of the home affairs select committee and the important work that we do. And with sadness we all accepted that that was the appropriate course of action that he has taken. And we also appreciate the many challenges facing him personally and his family.

All members of the home affairs select committee, across all parties, paid very fulsome tributes to the work that Keith has done. It is remarkable that he has been chairman of the select committee for nine years, the longest serving select committee chair. In that time he has overseen the publication of 120 reports and I think he has a reputation for getting the best out of witnesses, for being a robust chair, but also being a fair chair as well. I don’t think it is an underestimate to say the work of the committee under his chairmanship has had a direct and big impact on government policy, on law and also on public opinion at times as well.

Tim Loughton talking to journalists in Portcullis House.
Tim Loughton talking to journalists in Portcullis House. Photograph: BBC News

Nusrat Ghani, a Conservative member of the Commons home affairs committee, has also been tweeting about Keith Vaz.

Chuka Umunna has also been tweeting about Keith Vaz’s resignation.

Q: Has the work of the committee been undermined by Vaz’s actions?

Loughton says he does not think so. The proposal for an inquiry into prostitution came from another committee member, not Vaz, he says.

Loughton says the Speaker will probably announce the vacancy for the chairmanship next week, along with the vacancies for the chairmanship of the two new committees being set up.

Chuka Umunna refuses to rule out standing for home affairs committee chairmanship

Chuka Umunna, the Labour MP who serves on the committee, is asked if he will stand for the chaimanship.

He says it would be premature to comment on that today.

  • Chuka Umunna refuses to rule out standing for home affairs committee chairmanship.

Updated

Loughton says Vaz was genuinely sad about what had happened. He apologised to the committee.

But he was concerned about the reputation of the committee.

Loughton says Vaz is the longest serving select committee chair.

He has been a robust chair. He has a reputation for getting the best out of witnesses.

The committee has had an important influence on policy under his chairmanship.

But the committee has important work to do.

Loughton says he will chair this afternoon’s meeting, with the immigration minister Robert Goodwill, and tomorrow’s meeting with Amber Rudd, the home secretary.

He says the new chair will probably be elected in October.

Home affairs committee press briefing

The Tory MP Tim Loughton and other members of the home affairs committee are giving a briefing to journalists in Portcullis House in Westminster.

Loughton, the temporary chair, says Keith Vaz came to the committee and gave a very frank account of what happened.

In due course an election will be held, and a Labour MP will take over.

In the interim, Loughton will take over as acting chair.

The committee listened to Vaz with sadness, he says.

He says, with sadness, the committee thought he had taken the right course of action.

The committee know it is a difficult time for his family.

Here’s a Guardian video profile of Keith Vaz.

Keith Vaz: an MP who rarely shies away from a publicity stunt

Vaz says he won't resign from Labour's NEC

But Keith Vaz says he will not be resigning from Labour’s NEC. This is from ITV’s Carl Dinnen.

Corbyn says whether Vaz stays on Labour's NEC yet to be decided

Keith Vaz is a member of Labour’s national executive committee. He sits on the NEC as the representative of BAME Labour and, although the composition of the NEC did not use to matter much in the past, the balance of power on the NEC has become very important since Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader last year. The Corbynites have a narrow majority on the NEC on some, but not all issues. If Corbyn wants to push through sweeping internal reforms, he needs to be confident of being able win votes at the NEC.

Vaz is not a Corbynite leftwinger, but at the crucial meeting when the NEC had to decide whether to let Corbyn contest the leadership contest without getting 51 nominations, Vaz reportedly backed Corbyn.

At his press conference Corbyn was asked if Vaz would remain on the NEC. He said that had not yet been decided.

Although Keith Vaz has already announced he is resigning as home affairs committee chair, he has turned up for the committee’s private meeting scheduled to start at 2pm. This is from the Telegraph’s Laura Hughes.

It is not clear whether this was intended as tactical advice ...

Now Jeremy Corbyn has ruled out appearing on Strictly.

Corbyn has said bringing back grammar schools would be a “backward step”.

This is from Politics Home’s John Ashmore.

The Reuters live feed of the Corbyn press conference is over.

But Twitter never gives up. This is from the Times’ Patrick Kidd.

Updated

Corbyn asks UB40 why Britain is so creative musically, compared to other countries.

One of the band members says multiculturalism is a factor.

Corbyn says he wants to encourage young people to be creative. He says there is a problem finding space where young people can rehearse. Independent pubs are more likely to make space available than chain pubs, he says.

He says he is disappointed by the number of independent pubs that have closed in his constituency, or turned into chain pubs. There used to be many independent pubs were live music was played, especially Irish music, he says.

Corbyn's press conference

The live feed from the Corbyn press conference is back.

Jeremy Corbyn says Labour is consulting on what can be done to guarantee a minimum income for musicians. The internet has made it harder for musicians to earn money from record sales, UB40 members suggest.

My colleague Jessica Elgot has posted these from the Corbyn press conference with UB40.

Updated

Q: Why did you not vote against the welfare bill last year?

Smith says he regrets not voting against it. But he was following the whip and abiding by collective responsibility. Corbyn was not bound by the obligation, he says. Smith says it was a mistake for Labour not to vote against it last year.

The live feed of the Corbyn press conference does not seem to be working, so I will stick with the Smith phone-in for the moment.

Owen Smith's phone-in on the World at One

Owen Smith is on the World at One. He says he is pleased that Keith Vaz has stood down.

Smith is now taking questions from listeners.

Q: You support spending billions on nuclear submarines. In what circumstances would you use them?

Smith says he believes in multilateral disarmament. He wants to use Britain’s nuclear weapons as a negotiating tool to get rid of nuclear weapons around the world. He says this differentiates him from Jeremy Corbyn, who favours unilateral disarmament. Smith says Corbyn would rely on moral persuasion to get other countries to disarm.

Q: But in what circumstances would you use them?

If Britain was under attack, says Smith.

The Jeremy Corbyn press conference is about to start. According to politics.co.uk Adam Bienkov, the Corbyn team were asking journalists to presubmit questions.

Yesterday David Davis, the Brexit secretary, told MPs that it was “very improbable” that the UK would remain a member of the single market.

Downing Street is now distancing itself from this remark. The Sun’s Harry Cole was tweeted these posts following the Number 10 lobby briefing.

The PMOS is the prime minister’s official spokeswoman.

Burrowes says Vaz was an excellent committee chair. He says he has sat on other select committees, and Vaz was one of the best chairs he has encountered.

He says Vaz will not just be standing down as chairman. He will also be leaving the committee.

David Burrowes, the Conservative MP who sits on the home affairs committee, is talking about Keith Vaz’s resignation on the World at One now.

He says this did not become a party political issue.

But Vaz’s resignation was “inevitable”, he says. His position had become “untenable”.

  • Tory MP on the home affairs committee says Vaz’s position had become “untenable”.

Burrowes says Vaz could not stay on because the committee rules on issues like prostitution. Vaz was “fatally compromised”.

Jeremy Corbyn’s press conference with UB40 is about to start. This is from the Telegraph’s Michael Deacon.

There is a live feed here which should become active once it starts. You may have to refresh the page to activate it.

Live feed of the Jeremy Corbyn/UB40 press conference

Updated

Keith Vaz's resignation statement in full

The Guardian does respect embargoes (many organisations and individuals that release news statements to the media use them, and normally that is just a sensible way of managing the way news is released) but the Vaz statement is now being widely reported on Twitter and so it would be pointless holding it back.

Here is the statement in full.

It is in the best interest of the home affairs select committee that its important work can be conducted without any distractions whatsoever. I am genuinely sorry that recent events make it impossible for this to happen if I remain chair. I have always been passionate about select committees, having served as either chair or member for half of my time in parliament. The integrity of the select committee system matters to me. Those who hold others to account, must themselves be accountable.

I am immeasurably proud of the work the committee has undertaken over the last 9 years, and I am privileged to have been the longest serving chair of this committee. This work has included the publication of 120 reports, hearing evidence from ministers 113 times, and hearing from a total of 1379 witnesses. I am very pleased that so many members of the committee have gone onto high office and ministerial positions.

I told the committee today of my decision to stand aside immediately from committee business, and my intention to resign. This is my decision, and mine alone, and my first consideration has been the effect of recent events on my family. I have recommended that in the interim, Tim Loughton MP, the senior Conservative member, should Chair proceedings.After speaking to the House authorities, I will formally tender my resignation to Mr Speaker so that it coincides with the timetable for the election of other committee chairs, such as the Brexit Committee, Culture, Media and Sport, and Science and Technology, so that the elections can take place together.

I would like to thank my fellow members of the committee, past and present, for their tremendous support. I would also like to thank the clerks of the House for the amazing work they have done to strengthen the Select committee system, we are not quite on par with the United States, but we are getting there. They are a vital body for the scrutiny of government. I would like to particularly thank my two Clerks, Tom Healey and Carol Oxborough.

Updated

Keith Vaz resigns as home affairs committee chair

Keith Vaz has put out a statement announcing his resignation as chair of the Commons home affairs committee. The statement is embargoed until 2.45pm, but the BBC’s Ross Hawkins has just posted it on Twitter.

Updated

Lunchtime summary

  • Keith Vaz is expected to stand down as chair of a parliamentary select committee after the reporting of allegations involving sex workers and drugs.
  • Disabled children are almost twice as likely to fall victim to crime as other youngsters, a new report has warned. As the Press Association reports, research by the Equality and Human Rights Commission found that 22% of disabled 10 to 15-year-olds in England and Wales had experienced an offence in the previous 12 months. This compared with 12% of non-disabled youngsters of the same age, according to the watchdog’s analysis of data for 2012/13 and 2013/14. The findings were described as a “wake-up call” by commission chairman David Isaac.

Politics Home is quoting a source saying a majority of members of the Commons home affairs committee have “very grave concerns” about Keith Vaz’s ability to carry on as chair of the committee. It says it understands that at least two Tories on the committee will call for Vaz to be replaced.

For the record, here are the members of the committee.

Labour members (4)

Keith Vaz (chair)

Naz Shah

Chuka Umunna

David Winnick

Conservative member (6)

Victoria Atkins

James Berry

David Burrowes

Nusrat Ghani

Ranil Jayawardena

Tim Loughton

SNP member (1)

Stuart McDonald

According to the Press Association, House of Commons rules allow a select committee chair to be removed by a vote of a majority of the committee, including at least two MPs from the largest party represented and one from another party. But the rules also state that notice of a motion of this kind must be circulated 10 days before the vote is held.

Liz Truss, the new justice secetary, has been taking questions in the Commons for the first time and she was resolutely repeating the phrase “in due course” as she was multiply questioned on the timing of proposals for a Bill of Rights to replace the Human Rights Act.

While campaigners had assumed that, post-Brexit, this traditional Tory conference set-piece would be firmly on the back-burner, Truss has surprised some by emphasising that it remains a manifesto commitment that the party fully intends to deliver.

Meanwhile May herself been explicit that she cannot get the Commons majority needed for withdrawal from the European Convention.

Questioned by the SNP’s Joanna Cherry this morning about consultation with the Scottish government, given that human rights are not a reserved matter, Truss only replied that she intended to meet the Scottish justice minister, again, “in due course.”

This will be frustrating for Cherry, who has been pushing for clarity on this for over a month, as well as the devolved administrations, who would be forgiven for concluding that the Westminster government really has no answer as to how repeal of the HRA will affect, for example, the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland.

Liz Truss.
Liz Truss. Photograph: BBC/BBC Parliament

Livingstone defends Vaz over sex allegations

Given that Ken Livingstone is currently suspended by the Labour party, following the row about his comments linking Hitler with Zionism, he might not be the best character witness available to defend Keith Vaz. But there have not been many other senior Labour figures speaking out in the media on Vaz’s behalf, and no doubt Vaz will be grateful for what Livingstone said about him on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show.

Livingstone was characteristically combative but, not for the first time, he ended up banging on about Hitler (in response to a question about his suspension from the part).

Here are the key points.

  • Livingstone defended Vaz, saying that what he did in private was up to him. “I think someone’s private life should be private,” he said. Livingstone insisted that the story about Vaz sleeping with two male escorts was as yet unproven.

Let’s see what turns out to be true. I could spend the next half an hour recounting to you all the stories you’ve seen about me in the press that turned out not to be true.

But, even if it was true, it was a private matter, he argued. He also insisted that it was wrong to condemn someone like Vaz for a single “mistake”. He explained:

The simple fact is, don’t judge somebody on one mistake they make in their life, or even a couple of mistakes. It’s the total that he’s done for other people, in his own constituency and up and down Britain. He’s always been on the side of justice. And that can’t just be swept away by one mistake that he has made.

  • He effectively accused journalists of hypocrisy, saying he had seen political correspondents at party conferences picking up prostitutes.

What I find particularly ridiculous about this is I can recall being at Labour party conferences and watching journalists there going up to their hotel room with prostitutes they picked up from the streets. All across our society there are people that pay for sex. I don’t approve of that. I don’t do it myself. But I don’t think it’s illegal.

  • He dismissed suggestions that, if Vaz has paid sex workers, there was a conflict of interest because his committee is investigating prostitution.

I don’t think the fact that, if it turns out to be true, and he has paid for sex, that prevents him from actually conducting an inquiry into prostitution and the problems of prostitution. The problem of prostitution is what happens to the poor prostitutes, not so much their clients.

When he was asked if he was happy about a Labour colleague exploiting young immigrants for sex, Livingstone repeated his belief that the allegations were unproven.

  • He claimed that the Labour party is delaying the disciplinary hearing into his Hitler remarks because it knows he was right.

I think they keep putting if off because the simple fact is I’ve got so much evidence that says what I was saying was true. Particularly striking, if you go to the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, one of the pamphlets they sell to tourists is about the deal that Hitler did with the Zionists in the 1930s. So I don’t think anyone is going to accuse the Holocaust Memorial management of being antisemitic.

Ken Livingstone on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show.
Ken Livingstone on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show. Photograph: BBC News

Updated

Belfast will lose one of its four Westminster/Stormont Assembly seats under new recommendations from the Boundary Commission. The Commission’s main proposal is for the number of parliamentary constituencies is reduced from 18 to 17. In Belfast the south and west of the city would be merged into one single constituency called Belfast South West. Parts of West Belfast - since 1983 the main electoral stronghold for Sinn Fein - would be amalgamated into Belfast North West. Outside of the city the number of seats would remain the same but under new names.

The recommended changes have upset both unionist and nationalist parties. Sinn Fein’s Alex Maskey said his party had concerns that the recommended changes would also reduce the number of Stormont Assembly seats to 16 or less. Lord Empey of the Ulster Unionists said the proposals would mean places like Lisburn and Ballymena would be “cut off from their natural hinterlands” by the boundary changes.

The changes also put under threat the Ulster Unionist seat won back from Sinn Fein in the last general election, Fermanagh/South Tyrone. Under the recommendations Dungannon town is taken out of the constituency and new territory includes more nationalist dominated areas in the west of Northern Ireland, enabling the possibility for Sinn Fein to win back a seat in the border zone.

Ken Livingstone, the former Labour mayor of London, is on the BBC Victoria Derbyshire show defending Keith Vaz.

I will post the quotes in full shortly.

Sports Direct has announce that it will offer casual retail staff guaranteed hours instead of zero-hours contracts. My colleague Graeme Wearden is covering the reaction to this in detail on his business live blog.

Jon Trickett, the shadow business secretary, has welcomed the announcement.

These are good steps forward from a company whose Dickensian working practices have shocked the country. I hope this isn’t the last word from Mr Ashley, and that we can look forward to further such announcements in coming weeks, particularly regarding warehouse staff.

Tim Loughton, a Conservative member of the Commons home affairs committee, is clearly getting fed up of getting calls from journalists about Keith Vaz.

As the New Statesman’s George Eaton points out, Keith Vaz could be replaced as chair of the Commons home affairs committee by Chuka Umunna, the Labour former shadow business secretary.

If Vaz stands aside temporarily, then the committee would have to choose a temporary chair. But if he quits for good there will be an election for the post. Select committee chairmanships are allocated to particular parties, and this is a Labour post, and so only Labour MPs can stand. But all MPs in the Commons vote, which means the elections tend to be won by figures with cross-party support in the House.

Here is my colleague Rajeev Syal’s story on Keith Vaz. Rajeev says Vaz definitely intends to stand down as home affairs committee chairman at least temporarily.

What remains to be resolved is whether or not he is going to quit the post for good.

Two days after the Sunday Mirror splashed on a story about Keith Vaz paying two male escorts for sex, the veteran MP faces the meeting that may decide whether he can survive as chair of the Commons home affairs committee. On Sunday Vaz indicated that he would temporarily stand aside as chairman, but he was clearly hoping that he would be able to return. This afternoon the committee will meet to discuss his position. But, according to the BBC’s Norman Smith, some members of the committee want him to stand down and they are even discussing holding a vote of confidence in him.

I will be covering this story as it develops.

But there is plenty of other politics around too. Here is the agenda for the day.

9am: The cabinet meets.

1pm: Owen Smith, the Labour leadership challenger, takes part in a phone-in on the World at One.

1pm: UB40 declare their support for Jeremy Corbyn at a Corbyn campaign press conference.

2pm: The Commons home affairs committee meets in private. At 3.30pm it is supposed to be holding a public hearing with Robert Goodwill, the immigration minister, but it it not clear who will be chairing the session, or whether it will even be definitely going ahead.

After 2pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, gives a statement in the Scottish parliament on the Scottish government’s legislative programme for 2016-17.

3pm: Lord Kerr, the former head of the diplomatic service, and academic experts give evidence to the Lords European Union committee on Brexit.

Also, Labour MPs are voting today on whether to bring back shadow cabinet elections. The result should be announced in the late afternoon.

As usual, I will be covering the breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I will post a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on@AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time. Alternatively you could post a question to me on Twitter.

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