Tories vow to save grammar schools

CONSERVATIVES promised yesterday to mobilise local activists to defend the last state grammar schools against parents' campaigns for their abolition.

Campaigners in five areas are taking the first steps towards triggering local ballots on the future of selection, in a move which could threaten the future status of 50 of the country's remaining 160 grammars.

They need a petition from 20 per cent of eligible parents in each area to trigger a full ballot of parents which will decide the future of selection in their area.

Anti-grammar activists in Barnet, north London, were starting to collect signatures yesterday and campaigners in Kent, Ripon in North Yorkshire, Sutton in south London and Trafford in Greater Manchester are due to follow suit.

Ministers insist the system of ballots is simply designed to allow local parents to decide the future of their schools.

But John Bercow, a Conservative education spokesman, said local party members and MPs would step in to support selective schools. He accused the Government of hypocrisy and said ministers were out to "destroy" the grammar school system. He said: "I do not know of any Conservative Member of Parliament who is against grammar schools. We support these schools and want them to survive.

"What we want to do is offer support to parents concerned about how to keep their grammar schools. It's for parents locally to determine the future of their schools. Parents who think the status quo works well will say no to these petitions."

But Jacqui Smith, the Schools minister, dismissed his claims. She said: "What John Bercow is opposing here, presumably, is the decision the Government has made, which is that local parents affected by the selection arrangements in their areas should have the final say about those admission arrangements.

"It's not, incidentally, about `destroying' anything - as John very emotively says. No schools are going to be abolished. It's about a sensible debate as to whether or not the admission arrangements for those schools are changed."

Senior government sources said neither the Labour Party nor ministers would take a position on any individual ballots. "It's a decision parents have to make," a source said.

Electoral Reform Ballot Services will determine who are eligible to vote in each area before parents can complete their petitions.

Margaret Tulloch, of the Campaign for State Education, which is co-ordinating the anti-selection campaigns across the country, said the process would be a "long haul". She said: "I hope there will be a thorough local debate and that people will have time to discuss the effect of the election. It's sad if it becomes a party political issue.

Liberal Democrats, who oppose selection, have not issued general advice to local activists about the campaign ahead.

Don Foster, the party's education spokesman, said: "I suspect there are not going to be that many ballots. The ballot has to be triggered by such large numbers. There is no evidence on the ground in some parts of the country that there's a real groundswell of opinion."

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