GETTY Sir Michael Wilshaw has warned councils are 'ignoring' illegal Muslim faith schools

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Sir Michael Wilshaw said some councils are “getting in the way” of Ofsted’s attempts to stop pupils studying at unregistered schools. It is believed there are up to 160 illegal schools currently operating. Sir Michael said: “Some of our lawyers are saying that our cases are very robust.

GETTY FILE PIC It is believed there are up to 160 unregistered faith schools in the UK

Barristers are saying courts could say the local authorities didn’t find anything wrong with these places Sir Michael Wilshaw

“But what the courts might say is that the local authority has been into some of these places but don’t want to upset community relations, so they ignore it. “When push comes to shove, barristers are saying courts could say the local authorities didn’t find anything wrong with these places. “They have to see this as a serious problem, identify where these places are and close them down.”

GETTY Education watchdog Ofsted says it has six potential cases to take to the courts

The Ofsted boss also suggested some Labour-led councils were not tackling the illegal schools over fears of upsetting Muslim voters. He told the Times: “It’s a bit like the Seventies and Eighties, a lot of local authorities didn’t confront the Socialist Workers’ Party and all those infiltrating schools in those days partly because the councils themselves were made up of some of those people.”

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