Academies Bill [Lords]

I will put the hon. Lady out of her misery—I will just quote what she said:"““unless you give local authorities that power to plan and unless you actually make sure that there is money available...it's just a gimmick””." That is exactly what we have before us—just a gimmick, the very gimmick that she warned of. The right hon. Member for Yeovil said,"““strategic oversight of all state funded schools should be returned to Local Government.””" That is precisely the opposite of what this Bill does. As for Building Schools for the Future, the deputy to the Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Brent Central, clearly wishes the world to know that she is very upset with the Secretary of State's policy. Although she is not quite prepared to do that on the record, she arranged for friends to tell the newspapers that she is ““privately seething””. The giants of the Liberal party will count her among their number for her bravery. The hon. Lady has a choice. She cannot sit on the fence any longer. Either she votes for the coalition or she stands up for the schools of Brent—that is her choice tonight. Is not the truth about this whole business that during the past few weeks, the Secretary of State's credibility has been completely shot to pieces? Even his own Back Benchers are now questioning his decision to rush this legislation on to the statute book and to cancel hundreds of new schools. The right hon. Gentleman is on a slippery slope. The Tory party's shining intellectual, its greatest hope, has in the last fortnight been completely found out.