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Education and Inspections Bill

We will use the powers in the Bill to make it easier for schools to expand. We will use the powers in the Bill to give more freedom to schools. We will use the powers in the Bill to deliver on some of the promises that the Prime Minister made, but on which he has not been able to deliver. We look forward to using the powers in the Bill to deliver what the Prime Minister called, in his foreword to the White Paper, the aim of"““the creation of a system of independent non-fee paying””" state schools. That, I think, is the true objective of serious education reform, and as we fight that battle we will be able to say that ours is the party that is united in a commitment to deliver the radicalism behind the White Paper—from which, sadly, the Government have had to retreat because of pressures from their own Back Benchers. It is on that basis that Conservative Members are pleased to support the Bill’s Third Reading.