30/11/2009
Robin Walker, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Worcester today signed Devon County Council's petition to Downing Street for fairer funding, which has been backed by the national F40 campaign.
The petition reads
"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to implement a fairer education funding formula that recognises every child matters equally and ends the postcode lottery of education funding in this country, so that every child receives the same opportunity and quality of education wherever they live"
It is available here:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/handsup4schools/
As the 10th worst funded county, Worcestershire belongs to and supports the F40 campaign to get fairer funding for the country's most poorly funded authorities.
Robin recently attended the F40 group's conference in Westminster and has pledged to keep campaigning for fairer deal for local schools regardless of which party wins the election. Today he said
"Fairer funding for our schools should not be a matter of party politics but one of natural justice. I know many teachers and head teachers in Worcestershire who do a fantastic job with the limited resources they have and I know that many of our schools are thriving. Unfortunately they are still often doing so against the odds when Labour has widened the gap between the best and worst funded schools. At the recent F40 conference I called for that gap to be reduced, especially where, as in the West Midlands, you have nearby authorities paying a per pupil rate hundreds of pounds higher than ours."
"I am happy to back Devon's petition and I will keep pushing for fairer funding if I am elected as Worcester's MP. Quite simply this is the right thing to do. I urge all supporters of this cause in Worcester, whatever party they support to sign the petition today and push this issue to the top of the list for number 10." | 
