Gove slams heckler
The Labour Party and Michael Gove have condemned an activist who heckled a teenage delegate for attending an Academy school.
Labour released a statement saying "no-one should be heckled at a party conference", while the Education Secretary said: "Heckling a schoolgirl because she goes to an academy is disgraceful. But it also shows the real face of Labour – a party where aspiration and achievement gets booed.
"Stephen Twigg needs to condemn this and the culprit must be expelled from the party. This pupil is a credit to her school and proof that we need to expand the Academies programme."
Mr Twigg earlier spoke to the conference to outline plans to encourage students to take up teaching jobs in poorer communities, with a pledge to pay off some of the tuition fees of those who do so.
In his speech, the Shadow Education Secretary introduced a "New Deal for Teachers", including a doubling in size of the Teach First scheme.
It comes as a YouGov poll in The Sun reveals that 6% more voters think Ed Miliband is suitable for the role of Prime Minister, while a Survation poll in the Mirror says 34% of voters belive Mr Miliband is “statesmanlike”, compared to 18% before his speech to the Labour conference.