William Graham – Conservative Assembly Spokesman for Education – responding to Chancellor Gordon Brown’s TV interview with Oona King, in which he sought to invoke the idealism of assassinated US President John K Kennedy:-

“If he is really struck by the ‘sense of national commitment of the need to mobilise all our resources to ensure the potential of every person in our country contributes, and indeed determines, the prosperity of all', and if English education policies are to deliver the ‘prosperity for all’ he seeks, then he must also be baffled by the increasing divergence between education policy in Wales with those of England”.

“Labour in Government at Westminster and Cardiff continue to fail to co-ordinate education policy announcement and commitments”.

“Labour in England direct students towards the world-wide recognised ‘International Baccalaureate’, just as Labour in Wales begins to offer employers in the global market students with the ‘Welsh Baccalaureate’ qualification”.

“Labour in England announce their proposal to increase the school leaving age to 18 years of age, catching Labour in Wales totally ‘off guard’ once again.”

“If Gordon Brown is truly concerned about the future of the UK, he must give deeper consideration of the actions of Labour throughout the devolution process. He must be able to justify to himself the numerous inequalities, not only in education – but in health service, the democratic process and valuation of properties for the determination of council tax – that Labour has allowed to emerge in a misuse of the name of devolution”.