Ministers lay out plans to reduce gap between poorest and most affluent pupils – UK politics live

The government plans to halve the attainment gap in EnglandThe education secretary is asked about the growing anger of the cost of student loans which has escalated since the chancellor’s decision last November to freeze the salary threshold for “plan 2” student loan repayments for three years.Rachel Reeves said the salary at which plan 2 student loans must be paid back would be frozen at £29,385 for three years starting from next April. It means borrowers will have to pay even more towards their student loans as they benefit from pay rises.Now I get the problem. I see the issue. In reality, as a government, you have to look at a question of priorities and what you can do and how fast you can do it. Given the shape of what we have in the public finances, this is really hard.Part of what we’ve seen is that support for children with