Sir Keir Starmer hopes to bring state schools up to private standards in first term
Sir Keir Starmer says he hopes to bring state school standards up to those of their private counterparts within his first term if Labour wins the next general election – though he warned of funding issues due to the state of the economy.
Speaking to Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby, the Labour leader said he wanted to give children “the same opportunities” wherever they were educated and his government would “go at pace” to achieve that goal.
But he would not commit to increasing investment in education, blaming the “damage” the Conservatives had done to the public finances over their 13 years of power.
Politics live: Protesters interrupt Starmer’s big speech on education
Earlier, Sir Keir delivered a speech in Kent outlining how he planned to overhaul education, and “smash the class ceiling” that sees children’s backgrounds defining what they achieve later in life.
Key pledges included:
• Promising 500,000 more children will hit their early learning targets by 2030
• Investing in speech and language classes to “help our children find their voice”
• Updating the “outdated” curriculum to get children studying a creative arts subject or sport until they are 16
• Changing attitudes towards vocational education by providing more access to post-19 training
• Hiring 6,500 more teachers, making payments to increase retention, and reforming Ofsted
The Labour leader admitted to Beth Rigby that while some aspects – such as retention payments to teachers – could be introduced “very quickly”, the overarching goal of parity between public and state schools would “take time” as “we can’t just snap our fingers” to make it happen overnight.
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But Sir Keir said the plans he had set out were “what I would hope to have achieved in five years of a Labour government, maybe a little bit more” and they would hit ear marker “as soon as we can”.
“We’re in a bad starting situation, but… I want state schools to be just as good as private schools,” he added.
“I want parents to feel that it doesn’t matter anymore whether you send your children to state or private school, because the quality of education is as good in both places, and to give children in state schools the same opportunities as they have in private school.”
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Sir Keir Starmer’s speech in Gillingham was interrupted by climate protesters.
Pushed by Beth Rigby on where the money was going to come from to pay for the policies, the Labour leader pointed to the party’s long-standing plan to cut the tax breaks for public schools, claiming that could raise as much as £1bn.
“But it’s not all about money,” he said. “There’s the reform issue here as well.
“When we’re talking about the curriculum and the difference that would make for children and young people to be able to express themselves clearly with confidence in the school, in the workplace, that will make a massive difference to their lives.”
However, he did accept money was “an issue” and if Labour took power next year, they would have to take “tough decisions”.
“It’s always an ambition of a Labour government to make sure we’ve got the best possible education and have properly funded public services,” said Sir Keir.
“We do need more funding. We will have to grow the economy. We’re going to inherit a very badly damaged economy.
“What I’ve set out is what steps we’re going to take now, how we’re going to fund them, what we’re going to do to grow the economy. And I would reflect back on the last Labour government.
“All Labour governments improve education standards, build schools, and that will be the ambition of the next Labour government, just as it was of the last Labour government.”
Teachers’ pay
The party leader was also pressed over reports the government could be seeking to block next year’s recommended pay increase from the public sector pay review bodies, as teachers continue to strike across the country.
Sir Keir said he wanted to introduce a “framework for progression to recognise their qualifications, as well as the previously mentioned retention payments, but he would not commit to sticking to the recommendation – rumoured to be 6.5%.
On the strikes, he said would make sure his education secretary was “in the room talking to the unions right now to resolve this dispute”.
He added: “We’re in opposition, not government. The government needs to get around the table and resolve this issue.
“I think teachers will be hearing from today, as will parents, that there’s a core commitment from Labour to education if we come into power. Just as there was last time.”
The Syrian presidency has announced it’s assembling a special taskforce to try to stop nearly a week of sectarian clashes in the southern Druze city of Sweida.
The presidency called for restraint on all sides and said it is making strenuous efforts to “stop the fighting and curb the violations that threaten the security of the citizens and the safety of society”.
By early Saturday morning, a ceasefire had been confirmed by the US special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, who posted on X that Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to a ceasefire supported by US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
The post went on to state that this agreement had the support of “Turkey, Jordan and its neighbours” and called upon the Druze, Bedouins, and Sunni factions to put down their arms.
Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford reports from the road leading to Sweida, the city that has become the epicentre of Syria’s sectarian violence.
For the past 24 hours, we’ve watched as Syria‘s multiple Arab tribes began mobilising in the Sweida province to help defend their Bedouin brethren.
Thousands travelled from multiple different Syrian areas and had reached the edge of Sweida city by Friday nightfall after a day of almost non-stop violent clashes and killings.
“We have come to protect the [Arab] Bedouin women and children who are being terrorised by the Druze,” they told us.
Arab fighters said they had come to protect the Bedouin women and children
Fighters at a petrol station
Every shop and every home in the streets leading up to Sweida city has been burned or ransacked, the contents destroyed or looted.
We saw tribal fighters loading the back of pickup trucks and driving away from the city with vehicles packed with looted goods from Druze homes.
Shops and homes leading up to Sweida city have been burned or ransacked
Several videos posted online showed violence against the Druze, including one where tribal fighters force three men to throw themselves off a high-rise balcony and are seen being shot as they do so.
Doctors at the nearby community hospital in Buser al Harir said there had been a constant stream of casualties being brought in. As we watched, another dead fighter was carried out of an ambulance.
The medics estimated there had been more than 600 dead in their area alone. “The youngest child who was killed was a one-and-a-half-year-old baby,” one doctor told us.
Doctors said there had been a constant stream of casualties due to violence
The violence is the most dangerous outbreak of sectarian clashes since the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime last December – and the most serious challenge for the new leader to navigate.
The newly brokered deal is aimed at ending the sectarian killings and restoring some sort of stability in a country which is emerging from more than a decade of civil war.
Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire, the US ambassador to Turkey has said.
Several hundred people have reportedly been killed this week in the south of Syria in violence involving local fighters, government authorities and Bedouin tribes.
As the violence escalated in the southern province of Sweida, Israel launched airstrikes, including attacks on Wednesday on the defence ministry in Damascus and a target near the presidential palace.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government said it aimed to protect Syrian Druze – part of a small but influential minority that also has followers in Lebanon and Israel.
In a post on X, the US ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, said Israel and Syria had agreed to a ceasefire supported by Turkey, Jordan and others.
“We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity,” Mr Barrack said in a post on X.
The Israeli embassy in Washington and Syrian Consulate in Canada did not immediately comment or respond to requests for comment from the Reuters news agency.
The ceasefire announcement came after the US worked to put an end to the conflict, with secretary of state Marco Rubio saying on Wednesday that steps had been agreed to end a “troubling and horrifying situation”.
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Why is Israel bombing Syria?
After Israel warned it would destroy forces attacking Syrian Druze, Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa told the minority group in a televised statement on Thursday that “we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party”.
He then claimed Israel has “consistently targeted our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the former regime”.
It comes after the United Nations’ migration agency said earlier on Friday that nearly 80,000 people had been displaced in the region since violence broke out on Sunday.
It also said that essential services, including water and electricity, had collapsed in Sweida, telecommunications systems were widely disrupted, and health facilities in Sweida and Daraa were under severe strain.
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At least three people have been killed after a “horrific incident” at a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department training facility, officials have said.
A spokesperson for the department said there was an explosion at the Biscailuz Center Academy Training in east LA.
The incident was reported at around 7.30am local time (3.30pm UK time).
Aerial footage from local channel KABC-TV suggests the blast happened in a parking lot filled with sheriff patrol cars and box trucks.
The training centre in east LA. Pic: NBC Los Angeles
Attorney general Pam Bondi wrote on X: “I just spoke to @USAttyEssayli about what appears to be a horrific incident that killed at least three at a law enforcement training facility in Los Angeles.
“Our federal agents are at the scene and we are working to learn more.”
California congressman Jimmy Sanchez said the explosion had “claimed the lives of at least three deputies”.
“My condolences to the families and everyone impacted by this loss,” he said.
Media and law enforcement officials near the explosion site. Pic: AP
The attorney general said in a follow-up post that agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are “on the ground to support”.
The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, said the LAPD bomb squad has also responded to the scene.
“The thoughts of all Angelenos are with all of those impacted by this blast,” she said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the incident, his press office said in a post on X.
“The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services is in contact with the Sheriff’s Department and closely monitoring the situation, and has offered full state assistance,” it added.
The cause of the explosion is being investigated.
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