EVERYONE in Bury is proud of the achievement of our schools, most recently in the newly published national SATS results.

I read with great interest last week's letter from three Tory councillors on this subject. Let's not forget that, in Government, the Tories slashed school spending year on year, pushing Bury's schools to the verge of bankruptcy.

Since Labour came to power the Tories have opposed our policy of cutting class sizes in primary schools and opposed every increase in education spending Labour has introduced in the last four years.

Not only that, now they want to:

abolish the National Literacy Strategy, which has been so successful in driving up standards;

abolish the Standards Fund, which has brought in millions of pounds to Bury's schools on top of that core funding;

abolish Bury's Local Education Authority, which is recognised as one of the best in the country

turn the clock back 30 years by bringing back an 11 plus exam;

and find £24 million of cuts in every parliamentary constituency in the land to finance their irresponsible tax cutting policy.

Under the ludicrous Hague, the Tories have lurched even further to the right on education than in Margaret Thatcher's wildest dreams. Ask yourself, honestly, would your child's education be safe in their hands?

DAVID CHAYTOR MP