Lucy Powell’s anti-Tory obsession is no substitute for a serious education policy

Loopy Lucy IF Westminster gossip is to be believed, Lucy Powell was Andy Burnham’s THIRD choice to be Education Secretary. The new PM may already regret not having a fourth option. Lucy Powell is said to have been the third choice to be Education Secretary Credit: Getty She claimed Michael Gove’s drive to raise academic standards in schools contributed to more than one million young people being out of work Credit: Getty Powell’s claim that ex-Tory minister Michael Gove’s drive to raise academic standards in schools contributed to more than one million young people being out of work or training is as dangerous as it is patently wrong. The Sun has argued for years that there needs to be better apprenticeship opportunities for kids, especially with AI radically changing the world of work. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! But that CANNOT come at the expense of dropping standards and abandoning any ambition to give ALL pupils the best possible chances in life. Not only is there NO evidence for Powell’s claims that Gove is responsible for leaving teenagers on the jobs scrapheap. READ MORE FROM THE SUN SAYS But in Wales and Scotland — where Labour and SNP-led governments refused to follow his methods, which later made English classrooms world leaders in maths and science — youth unemployment is HIGHER. Labour’s catastrophic tax rises on business have done the real damage to young people’s prospects. Allowing a ballooning of mental health benefits claims has only made that worse. Powell’s depressing diatribe is rooted solely in her tribal hatred of Tories rather than educational fact. Most read in The Sun Our kids will pay a high price for her wilful moronism. Zero clue ANDY Burnham says he “cannot ignore” the impact of Labour’s Net Zero policies on the cost of living. So why is new Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh insisting that green levies don’t increase bills for households, when they so obviously do? Fanatical Fahnbulleh, a disciple of Ed Miliband, also downplayed the prospects of significant new drilling in the North Sea. The lack of honesty over the estimated £40billion a year cost of Net Zero has been staggering. It seems there’s also not much chance of a straight answer about what, if anything, the Government is going to do about it. Liddle giant ROD Liddle knew what Sun readers’ lives were like – and they loved him for it. Proud of his working class roots and his country, Rod wasn’t afraid of laying bare the hypocrisy of left-wingers spouting concern for ordinary folk while being firmly part of the Establishment. Funny, fearless and staunchly committed to a free Press, no topic was off limits — he knew exactly what he thought, and did not hold back. One of a kind and one of our own, he will be sorely missed. Comment now