LABOUR pledged to tackle education inequalities today as pupils across the country await their A-level results due Thursday.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson committed to closing both regional education disparities and the achievement gap between private and state schools.

Ironically, Ms Phillipson said that one of the reasons for educational disadvantage was that there are too many children living in poverty, yet her colleague, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, has refused to lift the two-child benefit cap, a major driver of child poverty, and Labour MPs who have voted for its removal have had the parliamentary whip withdrawn.

Ms Phillipson said: “I want to make sure that all young people, whatever their background, have the chance to get on in life and that’s the mission of the Labour government.

“But my concern, as we approach the first of the results days, is that after 14 years the Conservatives have baked in massive inequality into the education system, including regional disparities and differences between outcomes for children at state and private schools, and I’m determined to turn that around.”

Labour is to impose VAT on private school fees to fund more teachers, a policy bitterly opposed by the Tories.

Touting Labour’s task force to tackle child poverty, Ms Phillipson added: “It will take us time to get that right, but I am determined that we bring down the numbers of children living in poverty.

“It’s a moral cause, but it’s also a big driver of some of these disparities that we see and it’s why we need to take action to support schools.”

Last year’s A-level results showed that disparities between north and south and between private and state schools remained wider than they had been before the Covid pandemic.

Figures from university admissions service Ucas showed that only a third of 18-year-olds in north-east England had applied to go to university by June 30, compared with more than 59 per cent of their peers in London.

And the proportion of top-graded A-level entries was more than 30 per cent in south-east England but only 22 per cent in the north-east.

The head of exams regulator Ofqual, Ian Bauckham, said he was concerned about the gaps.

“I very much look forward to the day when results days demonstrate that we are closing or have closed those gaps and that will be proof that a policy has been effective,” he said.

And Ucas chief executive Jo Saxton said: “I’d like to see the application rates among 18-year-olds even out across the country and that’s what I’m focused on.”

Ms Phillipson pledged that the government would work to make university seem a more attractive option to pupils, after concerns that rhetorical attacks on the sector by the Tories had led many to seek alternative routes.

“University is a fantastic option, but lots of people still don’t think it’s for them and that has to change,” she said, adding that “we’re making sure that young people have the support that they need to complete their courses.”

But she was evasive about tackling financial disincentives to attend university, which have discouraged many from applying and left those who do attend working long hours to make ends meet.

She said: “It concerns me that when I meet with students I hear that they’re working 30 hours a week in retail jobs in order to meet the cost of housing and other costs.

“I am determined that we reform the system,” she added, without commitment, while acknowledging that financial pressure was excluding many.