Tag Archives: building schools for the future

5 points on Clegg’s admission that Coalition was wrong to cut capital spending

Nick Clegg in DublinNick Clegg has sparked a flurry of excitement with his admission in an interview for The House magazine that the Coalition cut capital spending ‘too far, too fast’ to coin a phrase. Here’s what he said to Paul Waugh and Sam Macrory:

“If I’m going to be sort of self-critical, there was this reduction in capital spending when we came into the Coalition Government. I think we comforted ourselves at the time that it was actually no more than what Alistair Darling spelt out

Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , , , and | 45 Comments

Opinion: BSF is dead – thank goodness‏

With the Conference season now upon us and with Labour preparing to crown their new Leader it seems appropriate that we lay to rest the myth that BSF (Building Schools for the Future) was some great effective scheme. In fact it was a bureaucratic joke with too few beneficiaries and huge expensive processes. The Liberal Democrat Conference is a good chance to cheer and toast the end of BSF and focus on education and pupils and real improvements.

It was 2005 and the local elections in London were scheduled for 2006. It was clear, we were clear, parents were clear, that there was a need for additional secondary school places in north west London in the Borough of Camden. The case for more places in the south of the Borough was also compelling – the campaign for a school ‘south of the Euston Road’ was pretty noisy and indeed compelling. And yet Camden Council had got itself to a place whereby it looked inactive, unable to articulate a more pro-active vision and lacking the political leadership to secure a new school.

I remember very clearly the conversation in Cllr Keith Moffitt’s front room in West Hampstead about the need for a new school.

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 6 Comments



Recent Comments

  • User AvatarAmalric 24th May - 2:17am
    Geoffrey Payne makes an interesting point that we Liberal Democrats want no one enslaved by poverty, but the benefit cuts mean that poverty reduction is...
  • User AvatarEddie Sammon 24th May - 12:49am
    No Richard, you are wrong. People will look back in 200 years time and understand that people opposed it on a religious basis, not because...
  • User AvatarMichael Parsons 24th May - 12:27am
    First I don't see any signs of a "post austerity Europe" and the scarcely hidden panic among the IMF etc. as to the consequences of...
  • User AvatarRichard Wingfield 24th May - 12:23am
    @ Eddie Salmon: Same sex marriage is not a passing fad nor an ideology, It is much more akin to social issues like granting the...
  • User AvatarStephen W 24th May - 12:16am
    I'm entirely with you. I only say GET ON WITH IT! Why has this taken so long? And how much longer must it take? Economies...
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