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Education and Inspections Bill

Like my hon. Friend the Member for Havant (Mr. Willetts), I think that the Bill is, on balance, a good thing. It is a small step in the right direction. I have several reservations about it, but in some ways the saddest aspect of the Bill is the extent to which it now falls short of what was promised in the White Paper. In particular, having seen how charter schools in some of the most deprived areas of the US work incredibly well, I was excited to read what the Prime Minister wrote in his foreword to the White Paper. He pointed to the successes of charter schools, and to the success of school choice in Florida, so I was sorry to find that the Bill did not contain any of that radical edge. I hope that we will try to restore it as the Bill goes through the House.