Never miss a moment Stay ahead with live news updates in our award-winning app Enjoy a full year’s access to The Telegraph for £29. | | A failure to ensure that white working-class children succeed is holding back Britain, the Education Secretary has said.
Ahead of GCSE results today, Bridget Phillipson warned that four-fifths of children from white working-class backgrounds were falling short in the English and maths skills required to get on in life.
She said the demographic had been “let down”, and the UK’s productivity was suffering as a result.
Phillipson added that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds defied the odds to go to university and that it is the Government’s job to change that.
 | Bridget Phillipson Education Secretary | In 2024, only 19 per cent of white British, working-class children achieved a strong pass in maths and English GCSEs.
Fewer than one in five of all white British children on free school meals are leaving school with the maths and English skills to succeed in work and life.
This data goes back to 2017. Alarmingly, it looks almost identical today to how it did then. It’s appalling, and I won’t stand by and watch those numbers continue to grow.
It’s not just the life chances of those children that are being damaged – it’s the health of our society as a whole. Swathes of human potential and productivity lost.
As someone who grew up as one of those children, and as both a local MP and Secretary of State representing those children, I am absolutely determined to make sure they do better.
Better is not going to be simple, nor easy, nor quick. These are issues that run not only through our schools and classrooms, but into our communities. And they take root at the very earliest stages of a child’s life and education.
It’s why I’ve made the early years my number one priority as Education Secretary, because the single best way for us to close the gaps that emerge by the time young people leave school, is to stop them opening up at all.
It’s why we are revitalising family services by opening a Best Start Family Hub in every local authority, because better support for parents can only help when it comes to better support for children.
But there is more to do. And it’s why our schools white paper later this year will present an ambitious vision for a child’s school experience, for how we push up outcomes for all young people, for how we stretch the most able to turn a B into an A, and for how we transform the prospects of young people from deprived backgrounds.
Continue reading ➤
Nick Gibb: It is not just the state failing white kids, it is Labour ➤ | | Lucy Connolly was jailed in October last year after posting a message on X following the Southport attacks |  | Charles Hymas Home Affairs Editor | Sir Keir Starmer was last night accused of hypocrisy over the prosecution of Lucy Connolly.
The mother-of-one will be released this morning after serving 31 months in prison for inciting racial hatred over an expletive-ridden post on X, which she deleted hours later. Her supporters claim that she has been subjected to an unfairly long jail term and made a scapegoat for last summer’s riots.
Sir Keir has defended Connolly’s conviction, saying that while he was strongly in favour of free speech, he was “equally against incitement to violence” against other people. “I will always support the action taken by our police and courts to keep our streets and people safe,” he said.
However, in 2013, when director of public prosecutions, he introduced guidance for prosecutors to consider a more-lenient approach towards suspects who “swiftly” deleted tweets and expressed “genuine remorse”. The guidance urged prosecutors to consider four factors where “a prosecution is unlikely to be both necessary and proportionate”.
These included if “swift and effective action has been taken by the suspect and/or others, for example service providers, to remove the communication in question or otherwise block access to it”.
Connolly was jailed for a post on the day three children were killed at a dance class in Southport, on Merseyside, urging followers to “set fire” to hotels that housed asylum seekers “for all I care”. Continue reading ➤ | | Allister Heath Rachel Reeves is preparing the ground for the extinction of the middle class The Chancellor’s obscene tax grab will turn millions of ordinary homeowners into dispossessed tenants Continue reading ➤ Michael Deacon Don’t celebrate too soon. Labour is about to make the migrant crisis even worse Continue reading ➤ Tom Harris Starmer has now reached Sunak-levels of unpopularity: how long can he last? Continue reading ➤ | We speak your mind Enjoy free-thinking comment that champions your values One year for £29 | | Fiona Sharpe says Brighton used to be ‘so much more tolerant and open’ than it is now | | It prides itself as “a city of sanctuary” and says it “thrives on difference”, but since the Oct 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, anti-Semitic incidents in Brighton have risen by 150 per cent. A memorial to the Israeli victims has been vandalised more than 50 times, and the city’s small Jewish community says it has been repeatedly targeted by pro-Palestinian marchers. So why do progressives’ anti-racist values not extend to Jews? Continue reading ➤ | | | John Arlidge, an aviation expert, has taken dozens of recent flights, short and long-haul, in all classes, and is better placed than most to offer a verdict on BA. He has run the rule over the UK’s flag carrier, from its economy-class legroom to its first-class lounges, punctuality and loyalty scheme. Continue reading ➤ | | | A career as a prison guard struck our Secret Life writer as a solid, responsible path when he was in his 20s. But 30 years later, “the system around us has eroded”, he says. Staff shortages, little training and years of austerity have damaged the role. “If you were at my equivalent seniority in the police, you’d get paid around £20,000 more than me. I think there’s just as much risk in what we do,” our insider adds. Continue reading ➤ | | | Dua Lipa with Amelia Dimoldenberg, Charli XCX, and Lily Allen at White City House | | Soho House was launched 30 years ago as an exclusive refuge for the great and the good of London’s creative industries. Yet its glamorous star has faded after a rapid expansion and a troubled stock market flotation. James Warrington explores whether a £1.3bn takeover, led by a US hotel giant, can revive the private members’ club. Continue reading ➤ | | | The Telegraph’s Jack Rear tackles the fitness challenge | | A hundred push-ups, 50 pull-ups, 10 minutes. That’s the ‘Pete And Bobby Challenge’ laid down by Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, and Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, to help make America more healthy. But is it possible for the average Joe? Jack Rear put his dignity on the line to give it his best shot – and ended up rather humbled in the process. Continue reading ➤ | | | You might have previously been dismissive of fantasy as a literary genre. However, you will think twice after reading critic Sam Leith’s passionately argued piece, which draws on years of reviewing experience and ranges, with infectious enthusiasm, from The Epic of Gilgamesh to Neil Gaiman.
Sam will be replying to your thoughts on the greatest fantasy books of all time at 11.30am today here.
Below are two more helpful articles for you this morning: | | It’s the time of our life when we can finally relax and put our feet up, but retirement isn’t always a positive step for everybody.
So what is the perfect recipe for a long and happy retirement?
We asked the professors who study ageing, and you’ll be pleased to hear that none of them suggested anything too taxing. Most of us can manage a daily walk, while a sociable sport will bring benefits for both brain and body.
Eric Brunner is honorary professor of social and biological epidemiology at University College, London, and he has a list of essential markers we need to stay on top of.
Read on to find out how to age well and squeeze the very best out of your golden years. Continue reading ➤ | Confessions of a phone scroller Every weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal Reader Correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes...
My phone has a feature that tells me exactly how much time I’ve spent glued to its screen each day. The results are often alarming: an hour trawling social media, 53 minutes on YouTube, a whole 10 minutes staring in mortification at the feature that tells me how much time I’ve spent glued to my phone...
It was inspiring, then, to read Liz Hoggard’s account of going analogue for a week, and the assorted benefits this brings. Your responses suggest that many of us would like to vanquish the habit of automatic scrolling. Malcolm Hobbs confessed: “While watching television I increasingly find that I have my phone in my hand when the adverts arrive. This usually means that at least half the programme I was watching I never actually saw. Stupid.”
“But,” he added, “I do read offline and plan routes with maps. Sat Navs miss so many useful things, such as places of interest and potential stops along the way for lunch.”
I also thought this advice, from another reader, was helpful (if only I could take it): “I view a mobile phone in the same way as I do the AA. I need to have it, but I hope I’ll never need it. I’ve had a smartphone for nearly a year, and the dentist phoned me recently – the first incoming call I’ve had. I didn’t know how to answer it.”
Liz Morgan took a different view, however: “As we don’t watch or listen to the news, I read The Telegraph and Spectator on my phone. I don’t have a computer, so emails, WhatsApp and Facebook are also on my phone. I book meals, plays, exhibitions, flights and accommodation on it. I study art history every day, and use books and Wikipedia, though I do make notes with a fountain pen on file paper.” Could you do with a smartphone detox? Let me know here, or head to our Your Say page (time spent on the Telegraph app is never time wasted). Keep sending your stories to me here, or head to our Your Say page, exclusively on the Telegraph app. | plan your day with the telegraph | Set your alarm to catch up with journalists on the Your Say page and listen to their analysis on our latest podcasts. | Join the debate Share your thoughts with our journalists and your fellow readers One year for £29 | | Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including PlusWord, Sorted, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
The solution to yesterday’s clue was ALLIGATOR. Come back tomorrow for the answer to today’s puzzle.
Yesterday we gave the incorrect solution to Tuesday’s Panagram. The correct answer was DEERHOUND. | | Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor
P.S. Please let me know what you think of this newsletter. You can email me here. | |
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