A new Labour government would plan to bring in 鈥渁mbitious鈥 new schools legislation 鈥渆arly on鈥 to address its concerns around academy accountability, the shadow schools minister has said. Speaking to Schools Week at the in Liverpool, Stephen Morgan said attempts to amend the current government鈥檚 schools bill to force academies to follow the national curriculum and local admissions arrangements showed the party鈥檚 鈥渄irection of travel鈥. Earlier this year, Labour also attempted to change the landmark legislation to create new standards for academies on complaints procedures, inclusion of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and how land and premises are disposed-of. But with the schools bill now on ice amid a review of government policy by new prime minister Liz Truss, Morgan accepted Labour in power would need to bring in its own legislation to achieve its goals. 鈥淚 think we would want to bring forward a really ambitious education bill early on in an incoming Labour government,鈥 he said. Morgan and his colleagues have said they will focus on 鈥渋mproving outcomes, not meddling with structures鈥 if they win power, but have not set out concrete plans for the school system. Labour has confirmed it will not support forced academisation, but has also pledged to leave well-performing academy trusts alone, suggesting a hybrid model of academies and local authority maintained schools will be here to stay under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership. And while the government continues to favour all schools being in multi-academy trusts, Morgan says Labour will protect the right of single-academy trusts to continue to stand alone. MAT inspections and curriculum freedoms reversed But despite an acceptance academies are here to stay, Morgan insists the party is 鈥渘ot saying that academies are perfect鈥. 鈥淲e want to make sure the national curriculum is taught in in all schools. There are governance mechanisms and accountability arrangements that we want to see change. We want to see Ofsted inspecting multi-academy trusts.鈥 Morgan is also keen to further 鈥渆xplore鈥 a potential greater role for local authorities over things like school admissions, and exclusions, amid concerns about the lack of an effective middle tier in education between central government and schools. He added the party wanted to 鈥渕ake sure that reserves are proportionate for schools鈥. Official data published earlier this year showed academy trust coffers swelled by more than a quarter last year, with the sector鈥檚 total financial reserves surging to nearly 拢4 billion after the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic. He is non-committal on whether Labour would claw back and redistribute reserves deemed not to be proportionate, but said the party was thinking through 鈥渁 range of different options to ensure that we’ve got a robust accountability framework for future鈥. However, he also said he was 鈥渃onscious the amount of cost pressures that are now being placed on schools and the way that the government have fudged announcements with regards to funding any increase in energy costs鈥. Schools should have ‘resources they need’, but no plan Morgan also ducks questions about whether Labour will guarantee an inflation-related increase in school funding. He says they will ensure schools have the 鈥渞esources they need鈥, but further detail will come closer to the election. But he is scathing about rumours the government will attempt to lift the ban on new grammar schools, which follows a pledge to do so from Truss during her leadership campaign. 鈥淲e don’t think there will be a vote,鈥 he said, adding the obsession with selection in the Conservative Party was 鈥渢otally bizarre鈥. 鈥淚s this all they care about? This sort of issue that I think divides our country and creates a culture war?鈥 And while Labour has refused to confirm how its MPs would be whipped in any vote on grammar schools, perhaps unsurprisingly, Morgan is clear that he would vote no. 鈥淔rankly, all the evidence that I’ve seen suggests that grammar schools don’t deliver the outcomes that I would want to see. And they’re not popular amongst parents. I will always be evidence based in terms of the policy making that I make. So it’s a no from me.鈥