Bolitics The New Condem Government

[drat01]

Ahhh up there with Gideon as one of the more odious members of the ConDems', it seems that Gove has got things completely and utterly screwed up

Link

Gove apologises over school building list errors

Education Secretary Michael Gove has repeatedly apologised for errors in a list about schools building programmes in England which are being scrapped.

In stormy schemes in the Commons, Mr Gove was attacked by Labour MPs who said the 25 errors in the list were "intolerable" and "astonishing".

Mr Gove said he understood MPs' "passion" about the issue as Speaker John Bercow tried to calm MPs.

Labour's Tom Watson shouted at Mr Gove that he was a "miserable pipsqueak".

The West Bromwich East MP, whose constituency includes Sandwell - which Mr Gove admitted had been among those boroughs most affected - was ordered to withdraw the remark by the Speaker.

'Regrettable error'

The Commons chamber was unusually packed for an evening as Mr Gove delivered his apology - for breaching Parliamentary etiquette in the way the list was originally released, and for inaccuracies in the list.

The coalition government's decision to axe the Building Schools for the Future programme means 715 schools will see their rebuilding projects cancelled.

A number of schools that thought their building plans had been saved have now been told they are being axed.

Mr Gove told the Speaker: "I'm grateful to you and to the whole House for granting me the opportunity to make this statement, and once again to unreservedly apologise."

Amid anger from Labour MPs he repeatedly apologised and said they had sought to ensure the new list was "as complete as possible and as accurate as possible". He said he took "full responsibility for that regrettable error".

Continue reading the main story

The chaos and confusion around this statement was frankly astonishing

Vernon Coaker Shadow education minister

For Labour, Vernon Coaker said 25 schools on the list had errors, nine of which had been listed as going ahead with rebuilding projects which had been cancelled and a further seven which had been listed as "unaffected" had since been told their plans were "under discussion".

"The chaos and confusion around this statement was frankly astonishing," he said.

'Not appropriate'

He suggested Mr Gove had been "dragged kicking and screaming to this House to apologise" and said he should apologise "to the country for shattering the dreams and hopes of so many pupils and schools".

Mr Gove flagged up the borough of Sandwell as among those areas most affected by errors and said he wanted to "underline how sorry I feel towards them and to the parents and teachers involved".

But the area's MP, Tom Watson, stood up, pointed at Mr Gove and shouted across the chamber that he was a "miserable pipsqueak" who had "cynically raised the hopes" of people in his area. The Speaker ordered him to withdraw the remark, adding it was "not appropriate".

Continue reading the main story

The situation is bizarre and disgraceful and it is something we will have to challenge because the impact of not going ahead on our educational facilities will be dire

Steve Eling Deputy leader of Sandwell council

Mr Gove said he understood the "passion" Mr Watson brought to the issue and said he was happy to visit West Bromwich to apologise to those affected.

But in rowdy scenes, Conservative MP Tony Baldry accused Labour MPs of "synthetic anger" on the issue, saying his constituents understood that Labour had "left the cupboard absolutely bare".

And Nick Boles got a big cheers from his Tory colleagues when he accused Labour of running around promising schools rebuilding programmes they knew they could not fund.

It was initially expected that Mr Gove would write an apology to the Speaker but Mr Coaker had called on him to make the apology in person.

Mr Gove has said due to the financial situation - the government is trying to reduce the £155bn budget deficit - it has to prioritise funding.

The government says it will focus on creating new places for the growing numbers of primary school pupils and expand the Teach First scheme. Mr Gove had accused the school renewal scheme of being inefficiently administered.

The errors in the list affected schools in areas including Sandwell, Derby, Northamptonshire, Peterborough, Doncaster, Greenwich, Staffordshire and Bexley.

The mistakes have infuriated Sandwell council, where schools thought they had received good news.

Steve Eling, its deputy leader said the situation was "bizarre and disgraceful" and hopes for new schools had been "stolen from under our noses".

A corrected version of the list of cancelled projects has been given to the House of Commons library.

This revised list is also available on the Department for Education website.

Mr Gove, along with coalition partner Sarah Teather, had announced the scrapping of more than 700 projects to improve or rebuild schools.

NASUWT teachers' union leader, Chris Keates, said: "The fatal inaccuracies on the government's list of schools affected by the decisions on future BSF projects will take a wrecking ball to the hopes of school staff and pupils whose futures depended on having their school buildings transformed."

Loved the fact that

""Stopped" Monkseaton on his Commons post-apology list not only rebuilt but visited by David Cameron. Exam fail!"

No wonder they tried to keep him out of the public eye in the run up to the election

[kidlewis]

It still remains to be seen what Labour would have cut, it's like we want the deficit to magically disappear. You cannot make up the difference with tax hikes, nor just economic growth nor with just cutting until it balances out.

All three HAVE to happen, so some services are going to be hit, some taxes are going to go up and some areas of the country will be better to setup a company than others.

the one issue I have with the new government is I have yet to see a real attempt to focus on greener energy and technology, apart from electric cars, because they're too expensive and shit.

[drat01]

It still remains to be seen what Labour would have cut, it's like we want the deficit to magically disappear. You cannot make up the difference with tax hikes, nor just economic growth nor with just cutting until it balances out.

Why does it remain to be seen? They are not in power, the ConDem's now run the show (and doing a bad job at it) so they are the party who's policies are up for debate. They and their supporters need to explain exactly why they think these ideas are the correct ones. A PMQ today, all Cameron could do was mention Labour - they have no courage in their beliefs and are trying to deflect any blame away when their policies are questioned.

[kidlewis]

It still remains to be seen what Labour would have cut, it's like we want the deficit to magically disappear. You cannot make up the difference with tax hikes, nor just economic growth nor with just cutting until it balances out.

Why does it remain to be seen? They are not in power, the ConDem's now run the show (and doing a bad job at it) so they are the party who's policies are up for debate. They and their supporters need to explain exactly why they think these ideas are the correct ones. A PMQ today, all Cameron could do was mention Labour - they have no courage in their beliefs and are trying to deflect any blame away when their policies are questioned.

that's basically been PMQs since 2007.

[drat01]

So much for change then? :-) - #anotherbrokenpromise

[markavfc40]

Incompetent prick not only **** up childrens futures but **** up whilst doing so.

http://tiny.cc/04rcr

Gove apologises over school building list errors

Education Secretary Michael Gove made an apology to the Commons

Education Secretary Michael Gove has repeatedly apologised for errors in a list about schools building programmes in England which are being scrapped.

In stormy schemes in the Commons, Mr Gove was attacked by Labour MPs who said the 25 errors in the list were "intolerable" and "astonishing".

Mr Gove said he understood MPs' "passion" about the issue as Speaker John Bercow tried to calm MPs.

Labour's Tom Watson shouted at Mr Gove that he was a "miserable pipsqueak".

The West Bromwich East MP, whose constituency includes Sandwell - which Mr Gove admitted had been among those boroughs most affected - was ordered to withdraw the remark by the Speaker.

'Regrettable error'

The Commons chamber was unusually packed for an evening as Mr Gove delivered his apology - for breaching Parliamentary etiquette in the way the list was originally released, and for inaccuracies in the list.

The coalition government's decision to axe the Building Schools for the Future programme means 715 schools will see their rebuilding projects cancelled.

A number of schools that thought their building plans had been saved have now been told they are being axed.

Mr Gove told the Speaker: "I'm grateful to you and to the whole House for granting me the opportunity to make this statement, and once again to unreservedly apologise."

Amid anger from Labour MPs he repeatedly apologised and said they had sought to ensure the new list was "as complete as possible and as accurate as possible". He said he took "full responsibility for that regrettable error".

Continue reading the main story

The chaos and confusion around this statement was frankly astonishing

Vernon Coaker Shadow education minister

It came after shadow education minister Vernon Coaker said Mr Gove should apologise to MPs in person - and Speaker John Bercow agreed with him.

Mr Coaker said 25 schools on the list had errors, nine of which had been listed as going ahead with rebuilding projects which had been cancelled and a further seven which had been listed as "unaffected" had since been told their plans were "under discussion".

"The chaos and confusion around this statement was frankly astonishing," he said.

'Not appropriate'

He suggested Mr Gove had been "dragged kicking and screaming to this House to apologise" and said he should apologise "to the country for shattering the dreams and hopes of so many pupils and schools".

Mr Gove flagged up the borough of Sandwell as among those areas most affected by errors and said he wanted to "underline how sorry I feel towards them and to the parents and teachers involved".

But the area's MP, Tom Watson, stood up, pointed at Mr Gove and shouted across the chamber that he was a "miserable pipsqueak" who had "cynically raised the hopes" of people in his area. The Speaker ordered him to withdraw the remark, adding it was "not appropriate".

Continue reading the main story

The situation is bizarre and disgraceful and it is something we will have to challenge because the impact of not going ahead on our educational facilities will be dire

Steve Eling Deputy leader of Sandwell council

Mr Gove said he understood the "passion" Mr Watson brought to the issue and said he was happy to visit West Bromwich to apologise to those affected.

But in rowdy scenes, Conservative MP Tony Baldry accused Labour MPs of "synthetic anger" on the issue, saying his constituents understood that Labour had "left the cupboard absolutely bare".

And Nick Boles got a big cheer from his Tory colleagues when he accused Labour of running around promising schools rebuilding programmes they knew they could not fund.

But another Conservative MP, Ian Liddell Grainger, told Channel 4 News the government must "reconsider" its plans: "If necessary we'll come to Number 10 with all the heads and the children. This is the future for our children."

'Bizarre'

And shadow education secretary Ed Balls questioned whether a "proper process" had been followed and said the government could face legal challenges from firms expecting to build new schools.

Mr Gove has said due to the financial situation - the government is trying to reduce the £155bn budget deficit - it has to prioritise funding.

The government says it will focus on creating new places for the growing numbers of primary school pupils and expand the Teach First scheme. Mr Gove had accused the school renewal scheme of being inefficiently administered.

The errors in the list affected schools in areas including Sandwell, Derby, Northamptonshire, Peterborough, Doncaster, Greenwich, Staffordshire and Bexley.

The mistakes have infuriated Sandwell council, where schools thought they had received good news.

Steve Eling, its deputy leader, said the situation was "bizarre and disgraceful" and hopes for new schools had been "stolen from under our noses".

A corrected version of the list of cancelled projects has been given to the House of Commons library.

This revised list is also available on the Department for Education website.

Mr Gove, along with coalition partner Sarah Teather, had announced the scrapping of more than 700 projects to improve or rebuild schools.

NASUWT teachers' union leader, Chris Keates, said: "The fatal inaccuracies on the government's list of schools affected by the decisions on future BSF projects will take a wrecking ball to the hopes of school staff and pupils whose futures depended on having their school buildings transformed."

[snowychap]

Cameron quick to discipline Gove:

[peterms]

See Gareth your defence is again - Oh Labour would have done this.

So this coalition is made up of what exactly? Two parties by chance? Have both of those parties committed to work as one party in Gvmt?, do they sit on the same benches in parliament? have they split and shared the jobs? This is a merger - the two parties are not separate entities in Gvmt, they act and legislate as one. You may not like the fact, but can you honestly see the old LibDem's voting down for example a Tory policy? Of course they will not.

The example of the Liberal Party and the SDP forming the Lib Dems was a merger.

The present administration is a coalition.

A merger is intended to be permanent, a coalition aims to be no more than a temporary arrangement. A merger requires some change of internal governance arrangements (eg a vote of the membership, or whatever each party's governance requires), a coalition doesn't.

[bickster]

See Gareth your defence is again - Oh Labour would have done this.

It really wasn't a defence of anything, its kind of disturbing that you see it that way

[drat01]

And it seems Gove ran away from the Camera's today despite saying he would not. Also the ConDem's have sent out emails to their MP's "warning" them not to come out with anything embarrassing about schools in their own constituencies. Another appalling act from an already disgraceful Gvmt

[Gringo]

I did think Gove would be the first minister to resign or be pushed out, but laws beat him to it. His late dash to the line after the event does him no favours.

[drat01]

"He's making a list he's checking it twice - your gonna find out he's naughty not nice- michael gove is cutting your school "

[drat01]

QT is dispelling the myth that the old LibDem's are not part of the same party as the old Tory party. Absolutely disgusting performance from them

[tonyh29]

Milliband rattled by Andrew Neil ( no idea why I wrote Marr !!)... Seeing him in action he seems to have a hint of Blair about him , although Neil has just put a nail or two in Millibands coffin

More worrying him and Portilo look very cosy on that couch together

[Risso]

Milliband rattled by Andrew Marr...

Neil.....

[bickster]

QT is dispelling the myth that the old LibDem's are not part of the same party as the old Tory party. Absolutely disgusting performance from them

Just checked all the News sites and can't see any stories of this merger

[drat01]

QT is dispelling the myth that the old LibDem's are not part of the same party as the old Tory party. Absolutely disgusting performance from them

Just checked all the News sites and can't see any stories of this merger

You keep concentrating on that Gareth and leave the fact that millions of ex-LibDems have been conned and deserted by their poodle leaders by joining with the Tory party.

[TrentVilla]

Gove and this government are going to **** up the education of millions and millions of kids.

I can't quite believe that the Liberal party membership and leadership are part of this, it leaves me stunned.

[Jon]

I can't quite believe that the Liberal party membership and leadership are part of this, it leaves me stunned.

agreed. Really can't see the lib dem involvement in this coalition going further than next may's referendum.

[drat01]

Milliband rattled by Andrew Neil ( no idea why I wrote Marr !!)... Seeing him in action he seems to have a hint of Blair about him , although Neil has just put a nail or two in Millibands coffin

More worrying him and Portilo look very cosy on that couch together

Rattled? Blimey, Neil - a long time right wing supporter (Murdoch and Daily Mail) - tried and IMO failed to give him a rough ride. That's his style, he tries to be Paxman and is more like Paxo.

This Week summary: Neil agrees with Miliband re Budd and damns the Gvmt, article about the failings of the Gvmt and their economic policy, article about school cuts, and other things from this week, DM's leadership (of sorts), discussion about Torture by the security services (note: as this is subject to legal proceedings they have to be careful what is / isn't said), Neil tried and failed to get Milliband do a Gove, etc etc

If anything Neil was more damning of the ConDem's than usual