* ATL president Hazel Saxton warned ministers that teachers would not accept old Tory education policies in a new guise. She told delegates that the time was right to begin judging Labour’s record on education. She said that teachers who voted Labour had voted for change. “They did not vote for Thatcherism in a pink suit, nor for Majorism in full colour rather than shades of grey.
“Yet the Government’s menu - or the first course at least - seems to be precisely that. More of the same.” Mrs Saxton condemned the Government for phasing in the pay award, just as the Tories had done. “Governments cannot go on indefinitely assuming that teachers will take whatever is doled out to them. The last government ran up a large overdraft on the teacher goodwill account. This Government needs to start clearing it off - and soon,” she added.