Newly appointed Education Secretary Lucy Powell has faced criticism for her own spelling errors, drawing attention after she previously described primary school spelling tests as 'ridiculous.'
Powell, who is also the Labour deputy leader, tweeted "thrilled the be appointed Education Secretary" shortly after her appointment. Conservative critics responded by posting a corrected version of her tweet on X, formerly Twitter, pointing out a typo in the first line and questioning her grammar.
![New Education Secretary Lucy Powell – who once branded primary school spelling tests 'ridiculous' – has been mocked for her own spelling mistakes.]( "New Education Secretary Lucy Powell ')
These remarks come after comments Powell made in a 2019 interview with Tes magazine resurfaced. In the interview, she referred to the spelling assessments introduced by the Conservative government as 'ridiculous,' stating they were used to 'micro-manage' children. She argued that pupils should not risk failing English, maths, or science exams for misspelling a small number of words.
"It's gone too far with ridiculous Spag [spelling, punctuation and grammar] tests in primary schools or pupils failing exams if they spell a couple of things wrong," Powell stated at the time. She also commented on the pressure on teachers, saying, "If you're a teacher who is then being judged on the number of kids who pass a Spag test or a really hard new GCSE but you know that those kids aren't actually being fed properly or not being clothed, then it's not a great atmosphere, and it can feel a bit draconian."
Powell has also previously advocated for Labour's stance on ensuring that fee-paying schools with charitable status should no longer receive tax breaks. The government, under Keir Starmer, has implemented VAT on school fees, a policy that has reportedly led to the closure of over 100 independent schools since its introduction.