@Panickingpavlova
What about tory councils? Will they stop it?
It's going to depend on what the qcs say. What argument they come up with.. Everything in the end comes down to the law and I guess if heads want to take a punt after legal advice on their school safety... Or councils or the gov!
The domino effect may still happen - and it still puts pressure on government
The thing is though, its not purely about politics and thats an issue even for Tory Councils. The headteacher's union and one of the teacher's unions have launched a legal challenge saying they are being required to work in unsafe conditions and they will not continue to do so.
The government have closed schools in some areas for some reason and SAGE have advised the government to keep schools closed. It provides a rather awkward scenario for them. They have to now prove why they have closed in some areas but not others and crucially exactly why and on what criteria.
Remember its councils who are the direct employers here and the ones directly liable. Thus I think there is definitely a question mark about what happens if they require schools to open without first making sure that health and safety in the workplace is adequate. They need some formal government clarification at this point to cover their own arses. If the government don't come up with the goods, what option do they councils have?
They are potentially open to getting a court case from an employee or even a parent if they make a decision without a solid defence.
So councils are in a difficult legal position pending the outcome of those proceedings and I suspect thats more of an issue than the government are willing to admit.
I have a feeling that tomorrows interview with Johnson the BBC will be massively evasive and will piss people off and be a complete car crash as he won't be able to get away from the subject - he will want to talk about Brexit and the Vaccine programme not schools. This will make Gav top of his shit list. And as the day progresses things are going to get even more heated as pressure builds if dominos start to fall. I'm not sure what time Burnham is speaking tomorrow morning, but it looks like the timing is potentially being set up to ambush Johnson's tv appearance and to set the agenda for that interview.
I'm not convinced that the government position will last the course of the day for these reasons. It may - but it depends on just how much Labour areas are prepared to back the unions and / or what they are being told in terms of legal advice - with the latter perhaps being more important/relevant but the former being the thing thats used to deflect and blame Labour by the government.
Its all dreadful. The kids are stuck in the middle of this, with far less consideration being given to them by the government than they are saying. The teachers have been hung out to dry completely and have been let down by government who haven't considered their well being. And the councils are being left to pick up the pieces of the government's mess.
And it is all down to poor management by government who have tried desparately to get teachers demonised and completely alienated the unions in the process of not giving a damn about covid security in schools. And its all going to come to a head tomorrow.
We may well not know what the heck is happening until 7 or 8 pm (at least) tomorrow night from how this is progressing.