Faith schools betrayed by Labour, claims think tank

Its author, Cristina Odone, warns the Government intends to remove their autonomy and bring them into the state system in an attempt to curry favour with Labour Party activists.

In Faith Schools Betrayed, published by the Centre for Policy Studies, founded by Margaret Thatcher, Ms Odone, a former editor of The Catholic Herald, argues the schools are inclusive and offer a good education to children who could otherwise miss out.

She says they benefit Muslim girls as they give their parents the confidence to keep them in school longer and raise the chances of them going on to higher education.

The report also states they give poor parents a chance of a good education otherwise available only to middle-class parents who know how to work the state system.

Ms Odone argues that using the numbers of pupils taking free meals is not an accurate way of judging the social background of pupils attending faith schools as parents from strongly religious communities often turn to extended family rather than accept government aid.

A government-commissioned report on faith schools by Chief Schools Adjudicator Sir Philip Hunter is due out shortly.

Schools Minister Jim Knight said: "The Government agrees faith schools are inclusive, offer a good education and are popular with parents.

"Just this week I visited the outstanding Guru Nanak School, the only Sikh secondary school in England, that is hugely popular with families of all faiths and works well with other schools.

"Faith-based schools are assured a secure future under this Government, with parents from all backgrounds being offered an equal chance to get their children in. To suggest otherwise is nonsense and a distortion of the truth."