Leader – Schools out in force

Depending on when you are reading this, the result of the General Election will either be known or still in doubt, but the narrowing in the opinion polls just one week before the country goes to vote will have implications for whoever forms the next government.

A year on from the referendum, Britain remains divided, and Theresa May’s attempt to re-paint her party as “One Nation” Tories has floundered.

Perhaps a fair settlement between the 52 per cent and the 48 per cent – the “Somewheres” and “Anywheres” of Labourite and Remain voter David Goodhart’s book The Road to Somewhere – is impossible given how far apart they are on fundamental issues.

That mutual incomprehension is exacerbated by societal echo chambers, but on other issues – for example the Conservatives’ proposed changes to school funding – new coalitions could be starting to form.

In a similar vein, the government has exhibited a mish-mash of wishful thinking about what grammar schools were like or should be like, and the “lunch snatching” row over school meals, which has echoes of Thatcher, has also alienated many parents who are not normally a highly politicised group (they rarely have the time to devote themselves to advancing socialism in the manner of Corbynite students).

Tory policy gaffes may have given Labour an opening – and even if this turns out to be false, the Tories could emerge from this election unexpectedly chastened.