COUNCILS should intervene in any failing school regardless of whether it is an academy, free school or local authority-controlled, shadow education secretary Lucy Powell said yesterday.

Ms Powell told the Labour Party conference in Brighton that it was vital there was “strong local oversight and accountability of all schools.”

She reiterated Labour’s position that there should be no more roll-outs of controversial academies and free schools, which are funded and run independently of councils.

“A good education shouldn’t be a privilege — it is every child’s right,” said Ms Powell, whose three children attend state schools.

“Local authorities will be able to ensure sufficient places and fair admissions and have the ability to intervene in any school that is failing.

“Let me also be clear. There will be no more free schools and academy chains will be made accountable.”

The Tories are “blinded” by the desire to establish free schools, said Ms Powell, and are ignoring the achievement gap between poor children and their better-off contemporaries.