Well the debate on the Education bill looks set to cause all manner of entertainment if some of the amendments put forward by opposition parties are anything to go by.

I think it fair to say there’s more than a little mischief about a couple of opposition amendments, such as this gem from the Tories:

(1A)The Secretary of State shall only consent to the publication of proposals under subsection (1) for the establishment of a community or community special school if the local authority can demonstrate to the Secretary of State that the establishment of such a school would lead to substantially better academic results than would be the case for a foundation or foundation special school.

So the LEA can still open state schools, but only if they can prove that it will have higher standards than a foundation school, which is likely to be close to impossible given that foundation schools may end up incorporating some degree of back-door selection.

Meanwhile, the Lib Dems throw in this little gem…

(7)In the case of the consideration by a local education authority of proposals for the establishment of an Academy made pursuant to a notice under section 7, no inducement, whether in the form of additional grant or otherwise, may be offered to the authority by the Secretary of State so as to influence the decision to be taken by the authority concerned.

I wonder if the ‘or otherwise’ in there includes peerages?