Burnham urges Cameron to strip Gove of BSF review powers

Rt Hon David Cameron MP
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA
14th February 2011

Dear Prime Minister,

High Court ruling on Building Schools for the Future

On Friday, the High Court ruled that the Education Secretary’s decisions on Building Schools for the Future constituted an ‘abuse of power’.

I am sure you will agree that this is an extremely serious charge to be made against a member of your Cabinet.

The Secretary of State’s decisions were found to be ‘unlawful’ in respect of six councils on the Building Schools for the Future programme.

The Judge also ordered that the decisions affecting these councils be reconsidered with “an open mind”.

From his response to the ruling, the councils concerned will find it hard to believe that the Secretary of State’s mind is anything other than firmly made up. At no point has he acknowledged the defectiveness of his original decision-making process. He appears to have pre-judged any review of the decisions by so robustly defending his original actions.

Given that questions also remain over whether he ignored the advice of lawyers and civil servants in pressing ahead without consultation, there are serious doubts over whether the public could have any confidence in a review of the decision by this Secretary of State.

These matters affect the hopes of communities and the life chances of children across the country. To restore the confidence of the six councils in this case that they will receive a fair hearing, I urge you to remove the Secretary of State from any further role in the review process.

Best Wishes

RT HON ANDY BURNHAM MP

Shadow Secretary of State for Education