Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 1 March 2001.
Andrew Smith
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury
12:00,
1 March 2001
Education has suffered in the past from being turned into an ideological battleground. I would caution the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues against trying to do the same on the basis of those comments. The truth is that under Chris Woodhead's leadership, Ofsted made a distinguished contribution to raising standards, worked closely with us on the literacy and numeracy strategy, praised what we did in respect of cutting class sizes for infants—a policy opposed by the Opposition—[Interruption.]
The Opposition are the political parties in the House of Commons other than the largest or Government party. They are called the Opposition because they sit on the benches opposite the Government in the House of Commons Chamber. The largest of the Opposition parties is known as Her Majesty's Opposition. The role of the Official Opposition is to question and scrutinise the work of Government. The Opposition often votes against the Government. In a sense the Official Opposition is the "Government in waiting".
