Kemi Badenoch’s dire warning that Britain is ‘back under union control’ | Politics | News

Kemi Badenoch has warned that Britain is “back under union control”.

The Tory leader suggested that “what we have is Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party fronted by Keir Starmer”.

She hit out at the Government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which would introduce a raft of changes to the education sector.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Mrs Badenoch said: “This is not good for schools, and what it is showing is that Labour are just doing what the unions want them to do.

“The country is back under union control, and that’s what we are fighting against.”

Changes in the Bill include a clampdown on homeschooling and drastic changes for academies.

Mrs Badenoch said that while she supported the safeguarding elements of the Bill, the proposed changes to academies would “smash up the good things” achieved in England’s education system over the past two decades.

The Tory leader said of Labour: “Their way of making everything equal is dragging everyone down rather than bringing others up. Our way of making things equal is bringing people up. They want to destroy the schools that are doing well.

“I really worry that people think that they have something like the New Labour government that’s just a bit moderate and just doing things a little bit on the Left.

“What we have is Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party fronted by Keir Starmer. This is all the Corbynite stuff, but Keir Starmer is fronting it … This is Jeremy Corbyn’s dream.”

It comes as the largest education union in the country will ask its members to vote on the Government’s recommendation of a 2.8% pay rise for teachers.

The National Education Union (NEU) will launch an indicative ballot of its members from March 1 until April 11 over the pay offer for teachers in England.

Members will be asked whether they would be willing to take industrial action if the Government does not commit to a significant and fully funded pay rise.

Delegates at the NEU’s annual conference in mid-April could then decide to proceed to a formal ballot in the summer term if members back action.

Daniel Kebede, the NEU’s general secretary, said the current proposal of 2.8% for 2025-26 is “not sufficient” to address teacher shortages.

The Government denied it was under the influence of unions, with a spokesman saying Mrs Badenoch’s claims were “ludicrous”.

A Department for Education spokesman called the NEU’s announcement “an extraordinary decision”.

He said: “The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill will drive high and rising school standards, make our children safer and save families money.

“Academies do fantastic work and, far from getting rid of them, we want to share that best practice and make sure that all schools can benefit from the flexibilities they have.”