Labour is letting down Britain’s children, says National Education Union leader

Daniel Kebede tells his members that detail in new policies ‘just does not deliver’ and schools are ‘running on empty’ The leader of the UK’s biggest education union has torn into the government’s record on schools, accusing Labour of letting down the nation’s children and failing to deliver on its promises for education. Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), was unsparing in his criticism of the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson’s policies in a speech to delegates at the NEU’s annual conference in Brighton on Thursday. On Monday the Green party leader, Zack Polanski, received a standing ovation on the conference stage after he promised radical change, including the abolition of Ofsted, a “serious cash injection” into schools and an end to academisation. “It’s not because we agree with him on everything,” Kebede told delegates in a stirring 35-minute speech, before going on to praise the Greens’ vision of an education system “built on possibility rather than scarcity”. In a direct challenge to Labour, Kebede said: “It should surprise no one that the Green party now commands the greatest support among NE