Fears about education cuts in the upcoming budget have prompted action from pupils, teachers, parents and MPs.
Pupils across the country have posted videos of themselves performing the “floss” dance craze in a bid to convince Chancellor Philip Hammond to promise more money for schools in the upcoming Budget.
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Fears about education cuts in the upcoming budget have prompted action from pupils, teachers, parents and MPs.
Pupils, teachers, parents and MPs are joining the cause after cuts to school funding across the country have led to reductions in teaching and support staff.
Kay Tart, 35, a campaigner and full-time mother from Hitchin, said: “The same or similar things are happening in every school: Staff losses, crumbling buildings, out of date and broken equipment and a lack of resources.
Labour MP Bambos Charalambous posted a video of himself flossing alongside schoolchildren in his constituency of Enfield on Friday.
“More funding is needed for schools right now!”
The hashtag #Floss4Funding began trending on Twitter on Friday as part of the campaign to make Mr Hammond aware of the implications an 8% funding decrease will have on the education of schoolchildren across England.
Pupils, teachers, parents and MPs are joining the cause after cuts to school funding across the country have led to reductions in teaching and support staff.
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Kay Tart, 35, a campaigner and full-time mother from Hitchin, said: “The same or similar things are happening in every school: Staff losses, crumbling buildings, out of date and broken equipment and a lack of resources.
“So our group has joined up with others nationally to raise awareness of the school-funding crisis.”
Labour MP Bambos Charalambous posted a video of himself flossing alongside schoolchildren in his constituency of Enfield on Friday.
Alongside the video he wrote: “Delighted to have been flossing for funding at Hazelwood School this morning – I might need a few more lessons from the kids about how to floss.
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“More funding is needed for schools right now!”
Robert Halfon, chair of the parliamentary education committee, sent a letter to the Chancellor in early October asking him to look “very carefully” at the core level of funding for students in the upcoming Budget, expected October 29.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies noted that spending per student in further education fell by 8% in real terms between 2010/11 and 2017/18 and by over 20% in school sixth forms.
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Mrs Tart continued: “I have four children at school and a baby at home and I want them to have the first-class education that they deserve.
“The Government calls it the ‘fairer funding formula’ but we haven’t found it to be fairer in any of the schools we have been speaking to.”
The national day of action follows recent protests when more than 2,000 head teachers marched on Downing Street as part of the “Worth Less?” campaign objecting to the ‘unsustainable’ cuts.
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s governing Conservative Party said Thursday it has suspended a lawmaker who is alleged to have used campaign funds for personal medical expenses and to pay off someone who was threatening him.
The Times of London reported Mark Menzies took thousands of pounds (dollars) given to the party by donors for medical costs and other personal expenses.
It said that in December he called a 78-year-old aide at 3 a.m. asking for help because he had been locked in an apartment by “bad people” who were demanding money for his release. A sum of 6,500 pounds ($8,100) was paid personally by Menzies’ office manager, who was reimbursed from donors’ cash, the newspaper said.
Menzies, who has represented the seat of Fylde in northwest England since 2010, told the Times: “I strongly dispute the allegations put to me. I have fully complied with all the rules for declarations. As there is an investigation ongoing I will not be commenting further.”
He did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
The Conservative whips' office said Menzies had agreed to be suspended from the Conservative caucus in Parliament, "pending the outcome of an investigation.” The suspension means he will remain in Parliament as an independent lawmaker.
He was also suspended from an unpaid role as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s trade envoy to Colombia, Peru, Chile and Argentina.
Menzies has faced misconduct claims before. In 2014 he quit as a ministerial aide after allegations about his behavior made by a Brazilian male escort. Three years later, the Times said, he was “interviewed by police over bizarre accusations that he had deliberately got an acquaintance’s dog drunk.” It said Menzies strongly denied giving alcohol to a dog.
The case is the latest allegation of sleaze to hit the Conservatives, who have lost several lawmakers to ethics scandals in the past two years – including former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
They include a lawmaker caught looking at porn in the House of Commons, another who reportedly offered to lobby on behalf of gambling firms and a legislator alleged to have drunkenly groped strangers at a London private members’ club.
Last week Conservative lawmaker William Wragg suspended himself from the party's parliamentary caucus after acknowledging he’d been the victim of a sexting scam that led to him passing colleagues’ contact details to an unknown individual who held “compromising” material on him.
The Conservatives have been in power since 2010, but opinion polls put them well behind the opposition Labour Party, with an election due later this year.
The report is the latest sign of the muckraking and personal mudslinging expected in the election. Conservatives accuse Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner of dodging tax on a house sale years ago by falsely claiming that it was her primary residence. Police say they are investigating. Rayner denies wrongdoing and has not been suspended by her party.
FILE - The Union flag flaps in the wind outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Monday, Oct. 24, 2022. Britain’s governing Conservative Party said Thursday, April 18, 2024, it has suspended a lawmaker who is alleged to have used campaign funds for personal medical expenses and to pay off someone who was threatening him. The case is the latest allegation of sleaze to hit the Conservatives, who have lost several lawmakers to ethics scandals in the past two years – including former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, file)
Undated handout photo issued by UK Parliament of Conservative MP Mark Menzies. Britain’s governing Conservative Party said Thursday, April 18, 2024, it has suspended a lawmaker who is alleged to have used campaign funds for personal medical expenses and to pay off someone who was threatening him. The Times of London reported Mark Menzies took thousands of pounds (dollars) given to the party by donors for medical costs and other personal expenses. (Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament via AP)
