THE best and worst local education authorities in England are both controlled by the Liberal Democrats, according to this year's primary league tables.
Richmond upon Thames came top in terms of aggregated results achieved by 11-year-olds as more than eight out of 10 pupils reached the required standard in English and maths and more than 90% did so in science.
By contrast, two-thirds of pupils in Bradford hit the mark in English and maths, less than 60% did so in maths and just over 75% did so in science.
Bradford Council's education portfolio holder David Ward said the fact that the city's primary schools had done slightly better this year - the combined average for all three subjects rose to 201.6 form 198.6 - was remarkable given the upheaval they had faced.
Private firm Serco was awarded the contract to run school support services in the summer and a major rebuilding programme has been going on for months, causing disruption to both primaries and secondaries, he said.
"I said when GCSE results came out that this should be the last year of bad news.
"It's been a massive period of change - no other authority has gone through so much and I'm pleased there's been a slight increase in their performance but we do need to catch up with other people."
Mr Ward said simmering ethnic tensions which erupted into race riots this summer had no bearing on what was going on in Bradford schools in terms of results.
"I don't think that has had any impact on results in any way - it's the massive amount of changes coming at the same time - some schools have doubled in size over a year."
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