Ferryhill takes centre stage as Prime Minister drops in for live link with Kenya

Adding to the international feel of the morning at Cleves Cross was the presence of former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Mr Johnson, making his fifth visit in less than two months to one of the North-East’s former red wall seats, announced a new £55m fund which will support education in developing countries and will boost the UK’s ambition to get 40m more girls into school around the world in the next five years.

Mr Johnson said: “Supporting girls to get 12 years of quality education is one of the smartest investments we can make as the world recovers from Covid-19. Otherwise we risk creating a lost pandemic generation.

“Across the world there is a vast untapped resource – girls whose education has been cut short or denied altogether, who could be leading efforts to pull their communities out of poverty.”

The Prime Minister may have been hoping that the announcement in Ferryhill will assuage some of the criticism he has received for cutting Britain’s overseas aid budget by about £4bn a year so that the money could be spent at home on the pandemic recovery.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson helps out in the vegetable garden during a visit to Cleves Cross Primary school in Ferryhill, County Durham. Picture date: Thursday May 13, 2021.

Ms Gillard, who was the 27th Prime Minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013, is the chair of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), which is particularly concerned that schools closures due to the pandemic have caused 1.6bn children around the world to miss school.

She said: “Covid-19 has worsened the global education crisis and hit children in lower-income countries the hardest, with life-changing consequences for millions.

“Now, we are at a decisive junction. When the world builds back from the pandemic, ensuring that every girl and boy has the opportunity for a quality education is the single best investment we can make for a more sustainable, peaceful and resilient future.”

In July, London will host a UK-Kenya Global Education Summit which aims to raise $5bn to support the work of the partnership.

Pres Kenyatta said: “Protecting domestic education budgets and ensuring that we do not lose education momentum because of the COVID-19 pandemic will enable us to create more prosperous and resilient economies.

“We need to make smart investments in education technology to help close the digital divide and leapfrog infrastructure deficits in schools.

“The Global Partnership for Education provides critical catalytic funding that promotes education quality and equity and maximizes the value of government investment in education. That’s why I have teamed up with Prime Minister to raise US$5bn for GPE.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson with Chair of the Global Partnership for Education Julia Gillard during a visit to Cleves Cross Primary school in Ferryhill, County Durham. Picture date: Thursday May 13, 2021.

Cleves Cross may have been chosen for the global event because of very local events. It is in the totemic Sedgefield constituency which fell to the Conservatives in December 2019 as Labour’s red wall of heartland seats collapsed.

The school is just above the East Coast Main Line where the new MP, Paul Howell, wants to open a station to help people access work as part of the Government’s levelling up agenda.

And in last week’s county council elections, Ferryhill elected a young Conservative – an Aycliffe vape shop manager – as one of its three councillors.

The Prime Minister admitted that Cleves Cross was a “surreal” location for the launch of the initiative, but headteacher Alison Lazenby explained how the school has been developing a “connecting classrooms” link with schools in Kenya and Sri Lanka. Before the pandemic, a couple of teachers visited a Kenyan school and it is hoped to restart the links once Covid clears.

Mr Johnson also spoke about the possibility of a Beeching review which would mean the reopening of a Ferryhill station.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a visit to Cleves Cross Primary school in Ferryhill, County Durham. Picture date: Thursday May 13, 2021.

He spoke about how the relocation of part of the Treasury to Darlington would change the mindset of civil servants.

“The Treasury has basically thought that the wealth generation and power of the UK is primarily located in the great metropolis of the south east and I think that’s a gross underestimate of the rest of the UK.

“The flair, imagination, talent, enthusiasm, genius is everywhere.”