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Tristram Hunt MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, in a speech to Labour’s Annual Conference 2014 in Manchester, said:

Conference, it is a pleasure to meet in Manchester, a city that has always valued the power of education.

The Labour movement’s belief in the liberating force of learning was here 200 years ago in the first Chartist Schools.

Ours is the party of Mechanics Institutes, Co-operative Schools, the Workers’ Education Association, but Conference, you don’t need to be a historian to know the value of education. It shapes the life chances of every boy and girl who starts Reception.

For Labour, education is a moral calling. One that delivers social justice and rewards the talent of all our young people.

That is what the last Labour government secured, from David Blunkett to Estelle Morris to Ed Balls: an outstanding generation of teachers; schools rebuilt; decades of neglect tackled with the Sponsored Academies programme. Continuing that work demands big reforms but not big spending.

So as Secretary of State, my priorities are clear: childcare reform; a world-class teacher in every classroom; an education system that works for the forgotten 50 per cent.

The cycle of disadvantage begins in the early years. The last Labour Government battled poverty with Sure Start. If we don’t tackle inequality early, especially for those with special educational needs, the gap grows.

So as Secretary of State for Education, I will end the Tory attack on Sure Start. And for those working parents struggling with the cost of living, a Labour Government will increase free childcare from 15 hours per week to 25 hours per week for the 3 and 4 year olds of working parents, with the support continuing into primary years.

The next Labour Government will legislate for childcare support at schools from 8am – 6pm. For the breakfast clubs and after-school clubs the extra-curricular activity that makes the difference: building character and resilience in pupils.

But all this depends on hard-working staff. The cleaners, janitors, dinner ladies, teaching assistants – the hidden army of our schools. As our friends in Unison, UNITE, and the GMB have long campaigned, it is time their contribution was recognised.

This Tory Government scrapped plans for a School Support Staff Negotiating Body. Conference, the next Labour Government will re-establish that Negotiating Body for the lowest paid; to deliver dignity at work for those who ensure our young people succeed.

Conference, around the world, no education system exceeds the quality of its teachers. The Tories think teachers are the ‘enemies of promise.’ We think great teaching is the surest route to social mobility.

From Aldermoor Farm Primary School in Coventry to Holy Cross Sixth Form in Bury, I see committed teachers stretching the most able, supporting the struggling; nurturing hidden potential. So our schools priority is clear: a world class teacher in every classroom.

As a first step, all teachers must be qualified. Then greater training to make sure, year on year, teachers become better and better at their job.

But schools, like teachers, work best as a team. We learnt that with Labour’s London Challenge – transforming results for London’s schools.

The Tories think education should be a competitive fight. We believe in partnership and collaboration.

As Secretary of State for Education, I will roll out the London Challenge scheme across the country: tackling poor results and raising standards in our coastal towns, counties, and regional cities.

Schools succeed – like England and Scotland – Better Together.

But that’s not the Tory vision. Michael Gove might have been given the boot. Apparently, he wasn’t qualified for the job, but his terrible influence lingers on.

The Tory record on education is shameful: rising class sizes; more unqualified teachers; tripling tuition fees and, now, in Nicky Morgan we have a ‘Continuity Gove’, auto-pilot Education Secretary.

She is the Equalities Minister who voted against equality for gay marriage and the Education Minister who has refused to rule out for-profit schools.

Conference, the message from Manchester needs to go out far and wide: only a Labour Government will ensure our schools are not privatized for profit.

But the Tories’ greatest failure is in technical education. A ‘Forgotten 50 per cent’ of young people - not heading to university - who are too often denied the rewarding education they deserve.

So the third plank of our plan is a vocational education system to rival Germany’s. A Labour Government will ensure Further Education colleges focused on training for local jobs; proper apprenticeships lasting two years; technical Baccalaureate, with respected qualifications; careers’ advice; technical degrees so young people can earn and learn.

The old barriers between academic and technical crumbling under the next Labour government, righting the wrongs of the last five years.

Conference, from a revived Sure Start to world-class teaching to transforming the prospects for the Forgotten 50 per cent.

We have less than eight months to make this case, Labour’s case, for change.

A legacy we are proud of; a plan for the future.

Children supported from their earliest years to reach their full potential.

And in meeting their potential we will reach ours too.

Ends