Let parents sack heads, says Byers

Parents should be given the right to sack failing headteachers and governors from their local schools, one of Tony Blair's most senior allies urged today.

Former Cabinet minister, Stephen Byers said that the Prime Minister should put choice in public services at the heart of Labour's general election manifesto to outflank the Tories.

In a speech to the Social Market Foundation think-tank, Mr Byers said that parents should be given more control over their children's education, including the power to change a school's curriculum. Echoing recent Tory ideas, he said that restrictions on pupil numbers for successful schools should be scrapped. He suggested that parents may want to reduce the role of their council-run local education authority and take over their school themselves.

Offering greater consumer choice is seen by Downing Street as a way of speeding up improvement in public services but some in the Cabinet are wary of adopting Tory policies.