Senior Tory Crispin Blunt plots rebellion against plan to scrap faith school cap

Unease: Crispin Blunt is the third backbench Tory to voice concerns about dropping the rule that faith schools must offer half their places to pupils of different religions or none
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A senior Tory MP today said he will vote against Theresa May’s plan to stop faith schools having to offer places to pupils with different beliefs.

Crispin Blunt said that allowing new schools to be limited to one religion flew in the face of the Conservatives’ promise of a more cohesive society.

“Encouraging more faith-based education is hardly a giant leap for modernisation,” he told the Standard. “You only have to look at Northern Ireland to see the problems that can emerge when a society is divided in schools.”

Mr Blunt is the third backbench Tory this week to signal reservations about scrapping the rule that new faith schools must offer half their places to pupils of different religions or none.

It raises the prospect of a rebellion if Education Secretary Damian Hinds, who went to a Catholic grammar school, puts the proposals to a vote after a consultation. He has backed faith schools.

Last year the Conservative manifesto, overseen by the then No 10 aide Nick Timothy, pledged: “We will replace the unfair and ineffective inclusivity rules that prevent the establishment of new Roman Catholic schools.” It followed lobbying by the Catholic church, which said it would open new free schools if the cap were scrapped. Mr Blunt, MP for Reigate, said: “I do not see why the state should be paying for faith-based education. If you want that, then you should have the freedom to pay for it. You cannot expect the rest of us to pay for it.”

This week Robert Halfon, the chairman of the cross-party education select committee and a supporter of faith schools, said some places should always be reserved for “a significant minority” of pupils with varied beliefs. A former Conservative minister backed a partial lifting of the cap but warned the Government to be “slow and careful”.

Dame Louise Casey, the Home Office adviser on social cohesion, recommended policies “to ensure that children from different communities learn alongside those from different backgrounds” in a 2016 report. She said the cap “by itself” did not achieve diversity and “a new approach” was required.

The Department for Education said: “We want to go further to ensure all young people have access to a good school place and we are keen for faith groups to play a key role in this. Many faith schools are high-performing and more likely to be rated good or outstanding by Ofsted than non-faith schools.”

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