I had completely forgotten about this until a memory popped up on another social media platform, but 8 years ago today - when I was writing a weekly politics for a national Catholic newspaper - I questioned what the then Labour opposition's plans were for faith based schools?
The current Government is, of course, not led by Jeremy Corbyn but by a much more pragmatic, left of centre administration, but there are still many Labour members ideologically opposed to educational choice whether that is about state funded faith schools or independent schools.
The reason I'm posting this memory is not just to highlight the precedent of ideological opposition to educational choice on the left of the political spectrum but to remind that manifestos - for all parties - are as much about what they do not say as what they do.
In 2017 Labour did not say what they planned for faith based schools and, some would say, fortunately, we never got to find out.
In 2024 the Labour manifesto said it would not raise taxes on working people, notably income tax, national insurance and VAT but omitted to say thy would increase rates on employer's contributions for NI.
It's likely to be four years until the next General Election but in some respects that is not a long time, and this week opposition parties have been laying out some of their plans when it comes to welfare and so it is pertinent to raise the point again now.
When the time comes and manifestos are published we all need to be vigilant about what they do not say, it's often in those missing words that the harshest impacts are hidden.
In politics always look for what is missing
I had completely forgotten about this until a memory popped up on another social media platform, but 8 years ago today - when I was writing a weekly politics for a national Catholic newspaper - I questioned what the then Labour opposition's plans were for faith based schools?
The current Government is, of course, not led by Jeremy Corbyn but by a much more pragmatic, left of centre administration, but there are still many Labour members ideologically opposed to educational choice whether that is about state funded faith schools or independent schools.
The reason I'm posting this memory is not just to highlight the precedent of ideological opposition to educational choice on the left of the political spectrum but to remind that manifestos - for all parties - are as much about what they do not say as what they do.
In 2017 Labour did not say what they planned for faith based schools and, some would say, fortunately, we never got to find out.
In 2024 the Labour manifesto said it would not raise taxes on working people, notably income tax, national insurance and VAT but omitted to say thy would increase rates on employer's contributions for NI.
It's likely to be four years until the next General Election but in some respects that is not a long time, and this week opposition parties have been laying out some of their plans when it comes to welfare and so it is pertinent to raise the point again now.
When the time comes and manifestos are published we all need to be vigilant about what they do not say, it's often in those missing words that the harshest impacts are hidden.