Yorkshire peer demands Government apology over school closures

Speaking in the House of Lords, the Conservative peer said: “Yesterday, the oldest independent prep school in my home city of Leeds, Moorlands, announced its closure after 127 years.

“12 days ago, the renowned Queen Margaret’s in York, that has been educating girls for 125 years, said that it will close on 5 July – three days before another Yorkshire landmark, Fulneck in Pudsey which opened in 1753.”

Lord Caine continued: “All three cited increased running costs with both Moorlands and Queen Margaret’s specifically referring to VAT, increased national insurance and pension contributions and the removal of business rates relief as reasons for closure.”

And he asked Education Minister and former Home Secretary Baroness Smith of Malvern: “Like me, you were educated in the state sector, but will you now apologise to governors, staff, parents and above all students in many fine schools across the country facing closure for the damage, disruption and distress being caused by this Government’s cruel policies?”

Responding, Baroness Smith conceded that “every closure of a school is sad” and said she could “understand why people would be distressed if their school closes.”