Last week, the Labour group passed a motion at the monthly Full Council meeting at the Town Hall in support of the Building Schools for the Future programme. This entails £167m of investment in schools in Hackney from the Labour Government and Labour Council to dramatically improve their facilities. By the time the programme is complete in Hackney, 6 schools and 4 special schools in the borough will have benefited from refurbishment or rebuilding.

Cllr Feryal Demirci, Chair of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Commision, proposed the motion. She commented: “The BSF programme provides excellent quality facilities that pupils and staff can thrive in, as well as leisure and educational facilities that are on offer to the whole community.

“But it is also about more than just buildings and infrastructure. At its heart, BSF is about transforming education and improving the life chances of all young people being educated in schools in Hackney. We brought this issue to the Council chamber to give councillors the opportunity to reaffirm our support for investin in schools and the future of our young people in Hackney.”

The motion drew attention to the fact that the future of the scheme (across the country) is not secure under a future Tory government - David Cameron has pledged to cut investment from the BSF programme.

Unfortunately, the Tory group on the Council didn't even stay in the Chamber long enough to debate the policy and defend their national Party's views, having walked out only 10 minutes into the meeting.

The Greens and the Lib Dems dismissed the motion as 'pointless' - and they chose not to support it rather than joining the Labour group in standing up for raising the aspirations and achievements of Hackney pupils.