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In the aftermath of the local election results last week the Tories tried to sneak out a massive u-turn in the hope few people would notice. The news, slipped out on Friday afternoon, was that they were abandoning their flagship plan to force all schools to become academies.

This was a humiliating reversal for the Tories on a policy they had personally invested in – the measure was one of the big ticket items in George Osborne’s March Budget.

Yesterday Nicky Morgan was forced to defend the latest retreat in the Commons. Of course it should have been George Osborne explaining at the dispatch box but typically when the government is in a whole of his making he prefers to vanish rather than face the music himself.

Our Shadow Education Secretary Lucy Powell and Jeremy Corbyn have led the charge against the ill thought through forced academisation policy. Joining that opposition were head teachers, Tory councillors and most importantly parents.

(Image: Getty Images)

Yet until now Nicky Morgan has stuck her fingers in her ears desperately insisting “there is no reverse gear when it comes to our education reforms”. David Cameron himself, when challenged on the policy by Jeremy Corbyn at Prime Minister’s Questions, said he was putting “rocket boosters” under the academies policy and refused to admit it wouldn’t be in the Queen’s Speech later this month. How things change.

What’s jaw dropping is this reversal is just the latest in a series of u-turns and backtracking by a failing Tory Government.

We’re getting dizzy watching this volte-face government that’s simply weak, divided and unable to get its business through Parliament. Time and time again Labour, in opposition, has forced the Tories to think again on some of their most unfair and extreme policies.

Some of their u-turns have attracted more attention than others. The chaos that followed their attempt to cut Personal Independence Payments for disabled people in this year’s Budget resulted in a sharp reversal and the resignation of a Cabinet Minister. Meanwhile, their proposed tax credits cuts would have left more than 3 million working families £1,300 a year worse off from this April. Funny how these unfair policies announced to great fanfare later abandoned always have George Osborne’s fingerprints all over them.

(Image: Getty)

Other changes have attracted slightly less attention but still signal a Government in complete chaos. George Osborne’s disastrous Budget this year also resulted in climb downs on planned increases in VAT on solar panels and energy saving materials, and VAT on sanitary products. Earlier this year Tory ministers were forced to withdraw their plans to deregulate Sunday Trading when it became clear they did not have enough support in the House of Commons. Just last week ongoing pressure across Parliament – including from Labour’s Yvette Cooper – forced them to change their position on accepting child refugees.

Week after week and month after month we’ve seen more Tory back-tracking – from how child poverty is measured to scrapping feminism from the A Level syllabus.

With the Government weak and massively divided over Europe Labour will continue to keep the pressure on the Tories. But while u-turns on bad policies are always welcome they simply aren’t enough. Families let down by the Tories deserve better. That’s why Labour will continue to build on the progress made at this week’s local elections and work towards a Labour Government in 2020 that will stand up for working people across the country.