Message from Michael Gove

Dear Paul,

Nicki Woods is my hero. Elections aren’t usually heroic affairs. There’s often something pretty unattractive about all the manoeuvring and squabbling. But sometimes you get a powerful reminder what politics can achieve which reminds you why it’s so important that we get out and fight.

And this weekend I got the most powerful reminder possible of what we’re fighting for – from Nicki.

She’s a mum who lives in Birkenshaw in West Yorkshire and she wants her children to go to a good local school. She wants a school her children can walk to, a school where the head teacher knows every child’s name, a school built on a human scale with good discipline, traditional teaching and high aspirations. But the bureaucrats won’t let her.

Nicki is in the same position as millions of parents who want the best for their children but find the bureaucracy just won’t listen. It’s those people I’m fighting for in this election. And in Nicki all those parents have their champion. She organised a rally this weekend to demand a good school in her neighbourhood.

David Cameron and I were privileged to attend that rally and it was my moment of this election. A moment when hundreds of people gave voice to their hopes, demonstrated what the Big Society looks like, and joined together to demand the best for their children. We met hundreds of mums and dads who just want a great school in their community and can’t believe that Ed Balls has told them they can’t have it.

A Conservative victory on May 6th will mean that Nicki and every other parent who wants a great neighbourhood school for their child will have a Government on their side not one that thinks bureaucrats knows best.

We will give teachers the powers they need to restore discipline. We will make our exams world class and end dumbing down. We will help children from the poorest backgrounds most of all. We will give heads the powers they need to turn around poor schools and provide more good school places.

And we will ensure parents who want a new generation of smaller schools with small class sizes get the support they need to make their dreams come true.

Please, watch the footage from this rally, and then  support us in our fight against Ed Balls, the bureaucrats and their culture of failure.

Michael Gove MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families

P.S. if you’d like to know more about our plans for new schools, the New Schools Network is a fantastic independent organisation bringing parents, teachers and education experts together to change education for the better. Also if you’d like to know more about our policy take a look at the education section of our Manifesto