British voters go to the polls in less than a month. All signs point to a crushing defeat for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Conservative Party after 14 chaotic years in power. The Labour Party, ably led by Keir Starmer, is leading the Tories in polls by more than 20 points and appears poised for a strong victory.
Like here at home, U.K. voters say the economy is their most important issue. Unlike here, however, K-12 education — known as “schools policy” in Britain — is expected to be a key flashpoint. Labour is leaning into the issue, knowing that it’s important to working-class families fed up with crumbling schools and a government that seems to care little about their children’s academic or mental well-being.
This is not the first time that Labour has had to rescue an education system in crisis. The last Labour Prime Minister, Tony Blair, rode into office in 1997 partly on the back of an oft-repeated three-word phrase: “Education, education, education.” Like his American counterpart, President Bill Clinton, Blair wasted little time pushing through education reforms.
