Responding to the Public Accounts Committee report (Wed 26 May) criticising the Department for Education’s handling of the pandemic, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Education Daisy Cooper said: “Children, parents and teachers have all had an incredibly tough year. The inevitable challenges of Covid have been compounded by the shocking failures of a Conservative Government that has been poorly prepared and slow to act at every stage of the pandemic.
“This report makes clear that Gavin Williamson has failed time after time to show leadership. He was shamefully slow to get laptops to pupils who need them, he sleepwalked into last summer’s exam fiasco, and he botched the reopening of schools in January.
“Gavin Williamson is quite simply England’s worst Education Secretary in a generation. Boris Johnson should have sacked him long ago.
“We need urgent action and new leadership to stop the upheaval of the past year from permanently damaging the life chances of our children and young people.”