Tristram Hunt hits back at Daily Mail over Labour’s plans to tackle homophobia

Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt has mocked the Daily Mail’s reaction to his plans to introduce statutory sex and relationship education.

Labour yesterday announced plans to make sex and relationships education compulsory in all state schools, in a bid to tackle homophobia and sexual abuse.

However, the Mail’s front page today warned: “Children aged five will have sex education classes if Labour win the election”.

Mr Hunt – the Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent – joked about the plans at a reception for LGBT History Month this evening.

He said:  “We’ve set out some policies today about statutory sex and relationship education for all state-funded schools.

“If I had any doubt that I was not on the right track, the Daily Mail this morning proved that I was in the right direction.

“It’s one of those litmus tests for Labour politicians – the equal and opposite Newtonian reaction to a good idea is the Daily Mail telling you it’s a bad idea.

He added: “I’m hugely proud to be launching this report about the Labour party’s commitment to eliminating homophobic, biphobic, transphobic bullying in our schools.

“We need a zero tolerance approach to this culture, to make sure that our schools are our schools are places of confidence of gender and sexual identity where young people express their identities fully, and then achieve all they are capable of achieving.

“We need to update the curriculum so young people get a curriculum that speaks to their experiences, about social media, the internet and how they’re communicating with eachother today.”

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