The new Shadow Education Secretary, David Willetts, has attacked the draft regulations for local ballots on whether grammar schools should stay open, arguing that they load the dice against the survival of selection.

"They have maximised the electorate so that all parents in any school which sends as few as five children to a grammar school are entitled to vote on the school's future," he said.

"This means that grammar schools could be threatened with closure on the basis of votes by parents who do not have, and are unlikely to have, any significant involvement with the school," Mr Willetts said.

"Labour's attack on grammar schools is an appalling distraction which will do nothing to raise educational standards," he said.

Mr Willetts also took issue with the threshold of only 20% of parents who would need to sign a petition in order to get a ballot on retaining or closing grammar schools. He contrasted that with the government's higher requirements for trade union recognition.