Ed Balls rejects parents’ power for new Wandsworth school

Schools Secretary Ed Balls was accused of ignoring "parent power" today after he refused to give fresh money for new schools in Wandsworth.

Mr Balls said he backed the idea of a school founded by local parents in response to the acute shortage of places in south-west London.

But he said that Tory-run Wandsworth already had £300 million in its Building Schools for the Future programme and would have to take the cash out of that to fund any new premises.

Seven parents in Wandsworth are trying to establish their own community school amid claims they live in a "black hole" for education.

Mr Balls also rejected pleas from parents in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, who wanted to found their own school.

Mr Balls claimed that an independent report had found that there was no need for more places and that a new school would undermine existing ones.

The Schools Secretary did announce that a new academy would be built in Lambeth.

Shadow schools secretary Michael Gove, who plans to expand parents' rights to set up their own institutions, said: "Ed Balls said he wants to give parents more choice and control of their schools but when the crunch comes he let down a group of dedicated and hard-working parents in West Yorkshire and has given cold comfort to parents in Wandsworth.

"This announcement showed that Ed Balls's first priority is to side with bureaucrats not parents."