Balls 'starts witch-hunt against faith schools to please party'

The Children's Secretary came under mounting pressure over his "cash for places" allegations this week against top performing state schools.

Mr Balls said dozens of schools - almost all of them Church of England, Roman Catholic or Jewish - are breaking admissions rules and selecting pupils by the back door.

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Rabbi Abraham Pinter of the Yesoday Hatorah Senior Girls School (pictured) believes faith schools are being undermined

Some are charging parents upfront fees running into hundreds of pounds, he said.

But Tories accused him of staging a "witch-hunt" to win over Labour party members hostile to faith schools and bolster his position for a future leadership bid.

The head of a leading Jewish comprehensive said Mr Balls's revelations smacked of victimisation of faith schools and warned that "forces" were attempting to undermine them.

Mr Balls had said 96 schools out of 570 investigated in three sample areas were using banned practices such as interviewing pupils, researching their backgrounds and requesting upfront cash contributions.

They were "disproportionately" faith schools, he said.

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Beaming from ear to ear, Ed Balls and Andy Burnham look thrilled to be on the swings yesterday

But Tory spokesman Michael Gove said: "I'm convinced that, with more than one eye on a future Labour leadership bid, he is playing fast and loose with allegations which make the position of faith schools more exposed.

"He knows there is hostility towards faith schools from many Labour MPs, Labour rank and file and trade unions.

"The only conclusion we can draw is that this is about politics - and faith schools are the victims.

"There's no evidence that money played any part in determining admissions in any of these schools."

The London Borough of Barnet, where 28 faith schools were referred to the admissions watchdog for breaking the rules, accused Mr Balls of "sensationalist" claims.

It said schools rapped for asking for voluntary contributions as a condition of entry had not used the information to allocate places.

Leading figures in the Church of England said Mr Balls's investigation was "damaging" to church schools.

Tom Peryer, director of education for the Diocese of London, said: "Some schools, it is true, were noncompliant, although none, we believe, was seeking to subvert the code.

"Other alleged instances of noncompliance in Barnet have turned out to be without foundation and other challenges are very debatable."

He said some schools appeared to be on the blacklist for saying in the prospectus that parents were expected to support the school's ethos.

"That seems like a reasonable expectation if someone wants to attend a church school," said Mr Peryer.

The row follows attempts by Mr Balls's predecessor, Alan Johnson, to make faith schools set aside 25 per cent of places for pupils outside their faith.

Rabbi Abraham Pinter, principal of Yesoday Hatorah Senior Girls School in Stamford Hill, North London, warned last night of "forces who are trying to undermine the whole concept of faith schools, which have historically been the most successful providers of education".

He said the naming and shaming of faith schools breaking admissions rules was "probably" part of this.

Kevin Hoare, head of Finchley Catholic High School in Barnet, said: "There is an anti-faith school agenda at the moment and this may be part of it."

Mr Balls said there was no attack on faith schools, insisting the "credibility" of schools relied on them having fair admission systems.

But he said he had not expected to find abuses on such a scale.

• Some 47 per cent of teachers believe their April 24 pay strike will force their schools to close, according to a poll for the Times Educational Supplement.