Conservative Manifesto Launch

[anastaisia]

read it here

shall we pick this one to pieces too...

The tories don't need to scrap the bill because the new primary curriculum sections never went through.

Labour assumed it would even though they didn't leave adaquate time for debate - they shouldn't have done so.

sorry, just noticed you wrote scrap the new curriculum not the Act relating to it.

It was still right for it not to go through politically - Labour behaved badly to try and force really important bills through in the 'wash up' its supposed to only be used for legislation that truely needs to be made then for the good of the country - not to get Acts past parliament without proper committee stages and dabate.

Just listened to Cameron on Vanessa Feltz's show and my text was read out with regards to the debacle that is the CSA that is STILL working against absent parents, children and compliant fathers

Mumsnet need to get heavily involved with this agency because 9 times out of 10 it is mothers left holding the baby.

I have a debt of £42,000 by the time my children leave the education establishmnent the debt will be £65,000. We have lack luster enforcement, i have just heard David Cameron say on vanessa feltzs show that absent fathers will be merclessly pursued, but they're not.

I have a charge on my ex husbands property he pays his maintenance in the forms of arrears that will take 50 years to clear making my children 67 & 69 years old by the time this debt is cleared

We do not have legislation in place to make an absent pay maintenance that is fact that not one political party will address!

I think this parents setting up their own schools is a smokescreen. I think that what will really happen is that private educational companies will be allowed to set up schools with certain parents' and teachers' blessing.
If the teachers strike, it will play into the Tories hands because this will just speed up the policy of allowing new state schools to be formed, which are run by privare enterprise. I don't think this will be a bad thing, as it will give parents a choice and we will see which schools are the most successful and popular.

gibberish nonsense. not sure if we are all going to have to run our own schools and hospitals what exactly david cameron and co are going to be doing? fox hunting perhaps. and ripping up speed bumps. and having referendums every 5 seconds is SUCH a bad idea - just means everything grinds to a halt in a sea of the civil service not being able to move a muscle or make a single decision without it being put through a long drawn out vote.
I think the manifesto is a good thing though - it finally shows the difference between labour and tories is still alive and well - labour is more about welfare state and making sure those at the bottom are ok, whilst the tories are about every man for himself, you only get out what you put in, sorry if you can't put anything in because you are a child of abusive parents / a refugee who can't speak english / mentally ill / a wage slave to your job so not much time left in the evenings to set up your own school. Etc etc etc.

Also - with the economy in the shape it is in, it really disgusts me to the pit of my stomach that David Cameron and the Tories want to cut inheritance tax - a benefit PURELY to rich people.

And, all this nonsense about ' a tax on jobs ' - it is a 1% rise in national insurance that employers would have to pay. many of the business leaders who signed the letter criticising this proposal obviously don't want to pay more money, but they can afford to, and even more ridiculously, it doesn't apply to most of their staff as it only applies to those earning £20k or more. Which is not most retail workers!

Did anyone watch the party political broadcast last night? Didn't really tell you anything I thought. However, sounded to me they're very much for the married unit (so am I) however I'm not that fortunate. There was nothing said of single parent families so nothing was said that would encourage me to vote for them.

Absolutely Claig. The scenario I envisage is that if a school is judged as unsatisfactory or failing by Ofsted, private companies will start circling like vultures offering the parents an 'alternative', i.e. a school run by them. It'll all be dressed up in pretty language and accompanied by brochures full of happy smiling children and quotes from satisfied parents, but as I've said previously, I can't see where their accountability would lie.

Although I don't think that more choice necessarily means we'd have a better choice.

I guess that these schools will have to teach the National Curriculum, they will be inspected by Ofsted, they will have to perform well on SATS etc, otherwise their licences would be revoked. They would be under pressure to perform, so I think that they would concentrate on the core curriculum and traditional teaching and standards. I think that they will cut out some of the child-centred curriculum stuff. It will then be interesting to see how well they perform and how popular they become with parents. I think it might open up a lot of opportunities for teachers, I think that they will be well rewarded if they can demonstrate good results and can turn around failing schools. Good teachers will become very valuable to these private companies as they will be the ones that will be able to deliver results. It may shake the system up a bit and lead to higher standards.

I was interested to see what the Conservatives had to say about childcare vouchers and all I could find in the manifesto was this little nugget: ?we can no longer justify paying tax credits to households earning more than £50,000?. There didn't seem to be any further explanation.

So, does that mean that families with two working parents earning the equivalent of two average wages (about £25,000) will lose access to childcare vouchers? Surely these are exactly the types of families who need childcare! I'm not sure how we'd be able to cope without the vouchers - one of us will probably have to give up work altogether as childcare is so expensive...

I don't think there is one particular party that ticks all my boxes (is there ever for anyone), however, I do feel that Labour have seriously messed this country up over the last decade. The UK is a huge anti-social, over-crowded mess. Therefore, Labour will not be getting my vote.

I heard Michael Gove on the radio and the idea for parent schools is that parents wouldn't necessarily run them themselves but could employ a private managing agent that would, for profit.

It is the privatisation of our state schools under the guise of parent power.

I know that area of West London very well indeed, as I went to a comprehensive there, the Outstanding Comp he refers to is Twyford and it is a good school, much in demand.

But there are quite a few other high schools in ealing/Greenford area , they just aren't good enough for TY kids.

To argue that his kids can't travel from Acton to Greenford is total nonsense.

I travelled that far every day, there are tubes (central line) and buses (207 plus other routes) that go between Acton and Greenford - a kid could cycle, would take 30 mins by bike, just down the Uxbridge Road.

Molly - he actually talks about Acton High as being the good school, and mentions Twyford as well (but is that the CofE school?) He says he does have a good school on his doorstep, but wants even more choice! He should think himself lucky .

I feel like you Italy in terms of no party ticking all the boxes. But as much as we need a new direction in this country, I am not convinced in any way that the Tories would offer that - they haven't demonstrated anything hard or fast as a solution as others here have said.

Gosh MissM, Sorry that I didn't make myself clear - all I meant was can't we just employ the best methods and teaching staff within the public sector.

The point I was trying to make was why employ a middle man to provide education when you could just pay the teachers up front directly.

I think they are trying to break the hold on many public services that stop progress being made.

eg Independent schools have been around for centuries- they have a governing body and most have chartitable status.Allowing people to set up their own schools is another step in that direction except they won't need a benefactor/businessman to come up with the cash- the government will help I assume!

I like the overall philosophy which amounts to "hands off big and unwieldly state" and "hands on man in the street"- aslong as man in the street is able to get involved instead of just moaning about what they don't like, and doing bugger-all to change it- right down to being too apathetic to vote.

I think the setting up own schools idea is interesting but doesnt really get to the heart of the matter. At the moment there is limited choice ie generally you are allocated a school by the LA regardless of whether its suits your child and also that their are alot of failing schools. I say give parents the choice by giving us vouchers. Say 4k a year for primary and 6k for secondary or whatever it is that the LA's pay to educate a child. The parent can pick any school regardless of catchments etc that they feel is best for their child, if they choose independent than they can pay to 'top up' as neccesary. The good schools will expand and the bad ones will fold, simple. Any party that proposes that will get my vote.

Just to let you know we've boiled down the Conservative manifesto to some key policies here for your delectation

www.mumsnet.com/politics/conservative-policies

ah, but never the problem with that is that it exists to an extent already- parents appeal against admissions to get their child to the school they want- but these school become full- they simply do not have the space to expand!
his is the case with the single-sex school my DS and DD attended; people almost kill to get ther child there- but although the schools would like to expand they can't due to space - both are in central town locations.

the REAL answer is to make all schools GOOD schools, which has a lot to do with parents' expectations, parental support, how much they value education, as well as motivation of teachers and teachers' having high expectations- not to metnion great leadership.

Sadly- and I have spent years in educaiton- many "sink schools" are located in areas where parents simply don't value education. You need to change people's values as much as anything, as well as freeing -up teachers to teach rather than do paperwork, so they feel motivated.

Thanks Alicatte, my misunderstanding!

ITalylovingmummy - the huge anti social overcrowded mess you describe would be o so so much worse if we'd had a tory government all this time. at least there have been new schools built, people encouraged back to work by tax credits and a minimum wage, kids encouraged to stay in education for longer by those cash payment thingies that i can't remember the name of, child care being cheaper and better than ever before (though still not cheap enough in my view!), new hospitals built, children's centres all over the place, blah blah. i have real problems with them - the war and their daily mail pandering immigrant bashing, such as detaining child immigrants, but i really think if it is the anti social mess you are worried about - vote to keep the tories OUT not to help them in! Whether that be lib dem or labour where you are I don't know - but imagine all those in the middle of the anti social mess being left to set up their own schools etc?! It's got me shuddering! And there is no point in this being a government that works out for some already empowered people who are willing to really engage and have the skills and motivation to set up their own schools, if there are vast swathes of people just around the corner who haven't a hope of benefitting.

I am a bit disappointed with the Conservative Manifesto.

To paraphrase David Cameron,

'If we're elected on May 6th you're on your own on May 7th'

isn't a very attractive idea as we are just coming out of a recession (even if it was a single issue bank thing this time). (yes I know he didn't say that but that was the impression it gave)

When I watched the launch I was really hoping for some ideas and inspiration. A plan maybe but ...

I wonder, perhaps, if a coalition might not be the best thing for the time being.

Rocknstroll, I do agree with what you are saying, but everyone has been so 'me, me' in this country over the last few years and its people from all backgrounds who are so rude and angry all the time. I do think people need to change their attitude to children and teenagers in the UK where I still feel there is a 'children should be seen and not heard' vibe, which I do feel contributes to some of the problems with our teenagers. Are there such things as youth clubs any more or have they been stopped from too much red tape? Education should be good across the board so everyone is on an equal footing. Still not sure who I will vote for.

P.S.

Also thanks to CatherineHMumsnet I read through your summaries - they were really useful.

glad we agree Italy! YEs, there are such things as youth clubs - many more now than there were under the Tories, and also Labour have rolled out an undeniably massive programe of extended schools activity - so on site after school stuff such as drama, sport, music etc is absolutely standard in most state schools now - that is something that Labour have done, that was not there when the Tories were in power, and which gives kids something improving to do. I have just read this back and sound like a Labour evangaliser - I promise I am not - I really abhor many of the things they have done, and actually never thought I'd get over the war in Iraq, but here I am, more frightened of a Tory government than voting this bunch back in!

Yes thanks Catherine - that must have kept you guys busy!

While I think the idea of communities rather than government is a nice idea I think it is badly thought through. I struggle enough with a FT job, soon to be two kids and a house and an allotment to maintain, and that is without any semblance of a social life. Am I now going to have to spend my precious evenings (when I am not going to bed at 9pm due to pregnancy) going to community meetings to organise bin collections and how to run schools.

It's a real cop-out - we don't have the money to run government but rather than sort that out with taxes and efficiencies we are going to make you do all the work for free!

Communities groups are all very well when you don't live in a society where you need 2 wages to be able to afford to live.