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• Updating the “outdated” curriculum to get children studying a creative arts subject or sport until they are 16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.”
World
‘At least 798 killed’ at Gaza aid points – as medical charity warns acute malnutrition at all-time high
At least 798 people in Gaza have reportedly been killed while receiving aid in the past six weeks – while acute malnutrition is said to have reached an all-time high.
The UN human rights office said 615 of the deaths – between 27 May and 7 July – were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” said Ravina Shamdasani, from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Its figures are based on a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries, and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), its partners on the ground, and Hamas-run health authorities.
Aid agency Project Hope said on Thursday that 10 children were among at least 15 people killed as they waited for its clinic in Deir al Balah to open.
Ten children were reportedly killed when Israel attacked near a clinic on Thursday. Pic: AP
The GHF has claimed the UN figures are “false and misleading” and has repeatedly denied any violence at or around its sites.
Meanwhile, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said two of its sites were seeing their worst-ever levels of severe malnutrition.
Cases at its Gaza City clinic are said to have tripled from 293 in May to 983 in early July.
“Over 700 pregnant or breastfeeding women and nearly 500 children are now receiving emergency nutritional care,” MSF said.
The humanitarian medical charity said food prices were at extreme levels, with sugar at $766 (£567) per kilo and flour $30 (£22) per kilo, and many families surviving on one meal of rice or lentils a day.
It’s a major concern for the estimated 55,000 pregnant women in Gaza, who risk miscarriage, stillbirth and malnourished infants because of the shortages.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the coastal territory.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip.
The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what it says is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies from falling into the hands of militants.
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Gaza situation ‘apocalyptic’, says UN expert
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In response, a GHF spokesperson said: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
At least 798 people in Gaza have been killed while receiving aid in six weeks, the UN human rights office has said.
A spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said 615 of the killings were “in the vicinity” of sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
A further 183 people killed were “presumably on the route of aid convoys,” Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva.
The office said its figures are based on numbers from a range of sources, including hospitals, cemeteries and families in the Gaza Strip, as well as NGOs, its partners on the ground and the Hamas-run health authorities.
The GHF has claimed the figures are “false and misleading”. It has repeatedly denied there has been any violence at or around its sites.
The organisation began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, after Israel eased its 11-week blockade of aid into the enclave.
It has four distribution centres, three of which are in the southern Gaza Strip. The sites, kept off-limits to independent media, are guarded by private security contractors and located in zones where the Israeli military operates.
Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire towards crowds of people going to receive aid.
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US aid contractors claim live ammo fired at Palestinians
The Israeli military says it has fired warning shots at people who have behaved in what they say is a suspicious manner.
It says its forces operate near the aid sites to stop supplies falling into the hands of militants.
Read more:
GHF aid distribution linked to increased deaths
Gaza situation ‘apocalyptic’, says UN expert
After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach the aid hubs, the United Nations has called the GHF’s aid model “inherently unsafe” and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In response, a GHF spokesperson told the Reuters news agency: “The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys.”
The GHF says it has delivered more than 70 million meals to Gazans in five weeks and claims other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted” by Hamas or criminal gangs.
Ten children and two women are among at least 15 killed in an airstrike near a Gaza health clinic, according to an aid organisation.
Project Hope said it happened this morning near Altayara Junction, in Deir al Balah, as patients waited for the clinic to open.
The organisation’s president called it a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza“.
“No child waiting for food and medicine should face the risk of being bombed,” added the group’s project manager, Dr Mithqal Abutaha.
“It was a horrific scene. People had to come seeking health and support, instead they faced death.”
Operations at the clinic – which provides a range of health and maternity services – have been suspended.
Some of the children were reportedly waiting to receive nutritional supplements, necessary due to the dire shortage of food being allowed into Gaza.
Israel‘s military is investigating and said it was targeting a militant who took part in the 7 October terror attack.
“The IDF [Israel Defence Force] regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and operates to minimize harm as much as possible,” added.
The deaths come as an agreement over a 60-day truce hangs in the balance – with President Trump cautiously saying it could happen “this week, or next week”.
Elsewhere in Gaza, the Nasser Hospital reported another 21 deaths in airstrikes in Khan Younis and in the nearby coastal area of Muwasi.
It said three children and their mother were among the dead.
Israel said its troops have been dismantling more than 130 Hamas infrastructure sites in Khan Younis over the past week, including missile launch sites, weapons storage facilities and a 500m tunnel.
On Wednesday, a soldier was shot dead when militants burst out of a tunnel and tried to abduct him, the military added.
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Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the past three weeks – one of the deadliest periods for the Israeli army in months.
A 22-year-old Israeli man was also killed on Thursday by two attackers in a supermarket in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, said the Magen David Adom emergency service.
People on site reportedly shot and killed the attackers but information on their identity has so far not been released.
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Lack of food and water ‘lethal’ for Gaza children
Negotiations over a proposed 60-day ceasefire are ongoing and President Trump reportedly put “heavy” pressure on Israel’s leader, who visited the US this week.
A major sticking point is said to be the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.
However, Sky News understands the Israeli government thinks the chances of a permanent truce are “questionable”.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war – more than half are women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.
Its figure does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
The war began in October 2023 after Hamas killed around 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 251 others.
Some of them remain In Gaza and are a crucial part of ceasefire negotiations, which also include a planned surge in humanitarian aid into the strip.
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