Hague promises to tackle school 'thugs'

Mr Hague says Labour is failing on discipline

William Hague has stepped into the political row over education by blaming what he calls New Labour's "liberal elite" for discipline problems in schools.

The Tory leader said Labour's policy on education amounted to a "smack in the face to every teacher and parent".

In a speech at a south London school, he called for the scrapping of Labour's targets to reduce the numbers of exclusions of disruptive pupils and unveiled a raft of new proposals to take their place.

Hague's plan

Abolish exclusion targets and fines

Schools to set own discipline standards

Establish 'Progress Centres' for unruly pupils

But Labour has dismissed Mr Hague's attacks, saying it is spending more money dealing with truancy and disruptive pupils than the last Conservative government.

In his address Mr Hague said head teachers should have the power to set their own discipline standards in schools. He strongly criticised government plans to teach disruptive pupils in 'sin bins' within the schools where they have been causing trouble.

This, he said, would simply lead to young "thugs" terrorising their fellow pupils in the playgrounds and corridors of their schools instead of in the classroom itself.

The next Conservative government will not just turn the tide - we will defeat the liberal elite that has brought our education system to its knees

William Hague

Turning to Labour plans to cut exclusions he said: ""Four thousand more young thugs, are going to be allowed to hold our classrooms to ransom just to satisfy the politically correct targets of this Labour government."

Mr Hague's populist initiative on education follows Chancellor Gordon Brown's criticism of Magdalen College, Oxford, which denied state school pupil Laura Spence a place to study medicine, despite her excellent GCSE results.

The chancellor's comments sparked a full blown row over education policy between the government and the opposition, with Mr Hague calling Mr Brown "ignorant".

"Liberal establishment"

The new Tory policies announced on Tuesday will be the first in a series of statements outlining the education policies with which the Tories will fight the next election.

Mr Hague also struck out at Labour plans to repeal the law that bans the promotion of homosexuality in schools.

"New Labour and its liberal elite are trying to force feed our nation's school children with their politically correct nonsense by seeking to abolish important safeguards like Section 28," he said.

He also attacked the government for the abolition of grant maintained schools and the assisted places scheme.

The Tory leader added that the "classroom obsessions" of the Labour government and politically motivated education authorities had caused decades of "falling standards, poor discipline and people who can't spell the word 'Oxford' let alone aspire to go there."

'Johnny-come-lately'

A Downing Street spokesman said Mr Hague's proposals on discipline would be a good idea - but the government was already carrying them out by spending £527m over three years to combat truancy, he said.

Education Secretary David Blunkett too dismissed Mr Hague's proposals.

"The difference between Labour and the Conservatives is that we have a clear policy on discipline and exclusions. On this, William Hague is a Johnny-come-lately," he said.

While Liberal Democrat education spokesman Phil Willis said: "Disruptive pupils often have a poor self-image. Expulsion and the use of `sin bins' only reaffirm that low esteem and make the child feel even more of an outcast."