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Chancellor Gordon Brown could of course have cut £440 million from taxes instead of investing it in education. Our economy is strong enough to allow him to do so. But he has chosen to make investment in education this budget’s choice, aiming to match in state schools the funding per child at present available in private schools and ensure for all our children the educational support now available for just a privileged few.
The effect of his absolute priority to invest in the future of all our children can be felt immediately in our own community. Orgill Head Teacher, Robin Lacey and his successor will have the £31,000 paid directly to his school (a Labour Government initiative that did not exist at all before 1997) increased to £44,000 in April. With the extra £13,000 this year, Robin could get artists in to work with children in school and develop their creativity, and it would help to provide teachers with much needed preparation time. Wyndham Head Teacher, Janet Simpson, will have the present grant of £90,000 increased to £150,000 next week, and then to £190,000 next year. Our schools will benefit from the the recruitment, retraining, retention and reward of 3,000 science teachers and the provision of after school science clubs.
Elite athletes, like James Bowness, will have their prospects of matching the best in the world improved by an extra £200 million of public money to provide training and facilities and setting up national competitions in Olympic events in cities throughout the UK, starting with Glasgow this year, while thousands of youngsters will benefit from opportunities to use their energy positively on the sports field.
It is not only students at present attending school who will benefit. Those who have missed out at school will be able to acquire new qualifications, free of charge, up to the age of twenty-five. Lone parents will also be helped to increase their skills and given more help in getting the child care they need in order to work productively. This is the best way of combating child poverty but he will also increase the child element of the child tax credit improving it by 14% over the next three years. For a family with two children the child tax credit will be worth up to £88 a week in 2009, or £4,500 a year, a far bigger family tax cut than we could give if we used the same money to improve personal tax allowances or cut the tax rate. The number of children living in poverty increased by two million between 1979 and 1997. Since 1997 it has decreased by 700,000. These measures will help to make it a thing of the past.
Hundreds of our readers have become personally involved in the campaign to make poverty history not only in Britain but in other parts of the world. The children of St Bridget’s School were outraged to learn that many children do not have the chance to go to school. We have good news for them. Britain will be backing Nelson Mandela’s initiative to finance a new, detailed ten year plan to provide free schooling for every child in Africa by 2015.
A true leader must be able to look beyond the present moment. Some of the most important measures announced in the Budget involve steps to reduce carbon emissions, by providing more incentives to insulate houses and buy cars that are energy efficient. Gordon provides a powerful incentive to use public transport by giving all pensioners and disabled people the right to travel free of charge on any national bus service, not just local services.
In the hour or two we had to get our report together we did not go to the Labour Party website but spent our time talking to local people. We believe that most of them will understand his priorities.