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State Schools (Independence)

I am grateful for the opportunity to initiate a debate on setting our schools free, and I hope that it will be conducted in a spirit of inquiry and thoughtfulness. I am a member of the Education and Skills Committee and I am constantly struck by the degree of cross-party consensus and co-operation that I find there. I hope that our debate will be conducted in a similar spirit. I do not wish to score party political points. Indeed, I see opposite me some of the Labour Members with whom I voted on the Education and Inspections Bill. We joined together in the Lobby to get that Bill through the House.