Parents promised power to sack school heads

Parents will get new powers to "sack" failing school heads, Labour's manifesto will pledge next week.

They will be given the "ultimate sanction" to demand that badly-run schools are handed over to new managers, who could be from a religious group or the private sector.

The plan will infuriate teaching unions but is central to Tony Blair's view that parents in the state sector must be given more choice and influence. It is aimed directly at middle class parents who feel trapped because they live in the catchment areas of poor schools.

Ministers admit the problem is worst in London where wide variationsin schools and high house prices in good areas make many families feel they are losing out.

London parents are twice as likely to send their children to private schools. And only six in 10 families in London manage to get their first choice of school, compared with 85 per cent on average nationally.

To force a change of school leadership, parents would probably have to raise a petition, called a "parental satisfaction survey" in the manifesto. The idea is based on a Swedish system which has already seen groups of parents choose new heads and even take over the running of some schools.

Closing a school would be a last resort. In more marginal cases, parents could demand a bigger influence over how schools are run.

It said Michael Howard's leadership rating was up three points, Mr Blair's up by two points while Charles Kennedy's had slipped two.