Tories allege schools failure

The Tories promise "standards and discipline"

Whitehall interference is preventing teachers from bringing proper discipline to Britain's schools, says William Hague.

The Conservatives chose education as the focus for their morning news conference on Friday.

The plain truth is that we are failing too many children in many parts of the country

William Hague

Mr Hague promised parents "discipline, standards and choice" in schools under a Tory government.

His message follows an election broadcast on Thursday which portrayed children turning to crime while classrooms lay empty.

The UK's biggest school teachers' union has claimed the film is an irresponsible "travesty of the truth".

Teacher shortages

Mr Hague claimed teacher shortages were at their worst for 10 years while youth offending was on the rise.

Britain's education system "desperately" needed reform, said the Tory leader.

He said the schools system at its best was "very good indeed" but a different story, shown by the broadcast, was too often ignored.

"The plain truth is that we are failing too many children in many parts of the country ..." he said.

"Too many of our children are having to settle for an education which is second best."

Mr Hague accused the government of "meddling" in decisions which ought to be left to teachers.

"Labour's way has been to make David Blunkett the head of every school in the country," he continued.

"Our way is to give every headmaster in the country the freedom and responsibility to lead their schools."

Discipline was a particular area where that interference had damaged schools, claimed Mr Hague.

"The key is for adults to defend the rules. That is a difficult thing to do when Whitehall ties one hand behind your back."

May: Teachers face too much red tape

Labour had forced schools to put up with disruptive pupils in the name of social inclusion, he suggested.

A Tory administration would take those children out of school and give them the help they needed.

Mr Hague refused to say how many teachers he would recruit, accusing Labour of setting "arbitrary targets".

Instead, Tories would concentrate on retaining existing staff.

Shadow education secretary Theresa May said parents must play their part in ensuring their children behaved at school.

"This is why we will let heads design their own home school agreements," she said.

Mrs May promised to cut bureacracy for teachers.

"We will bring an end to the endless stream of forms, circulars and directives that land in schools every day," she added.

Tories lying, say Labour

The Labour Party said the latest official figures showed that the main beneficiaries of the expansion in nursery education had been the private and voluntary sectors.

Education minister Estelle Morris said: "Theresa May could not answer the question as to whether they were going to match Labour's commitment - she point blank refused to match our commitment for a free part-time nursery place for every three year old."

On universities, a Labour spokesman said the umbrella group Universities UK had said that the Tories' plans would lead to students from poorer backgrounds having less access to higher education - and would cost £101bn.

And under the last Conservative government, pupils expelled from school had received only two hours education a week - a system "damned by Ofsted".

Universities intervene

Universities UK responded to the row by saying that endowment was one of the four options in its funding report, published in March.

"That report clearly stated that higher education needs a minimum of £900m extra per year to maintain our universities' world class reputation - the status quo is unacceptable," said the chief executive, Diana Warwick.

"But the Conservatives' proposal would have to be properly funded - we estimate the full cost of the proposal at £101bn."

Endowing universities could give them more autonomy, it could lead to further development of world class universities and specialist institutions, and it might lead to a 'culture of giving' as in the USA.

"But it would be many years before whole sector could be endowed and it could have negative impact on widening participation."

Blair interview

Tony Blair was quoted in Friday's Financial Times saying he was confident a referendum on joining the euro could be won.

At his news conference, Mr Hague repeated his argument that the general election was the real referendum on the single currency.

"If the Labour Party wins the election the pound is doomed and that is clearer than ever from the interview Tony Blair gave today."

Both Mr Hague and shadow chancellor Michael Portillo are making speeches about the euro on Friday.