Mary Glindon MP: Breaking the class ceiling in schools.

Instead, I want to focus on one small part of Keir Starmer’s keynote speech in which he told his personal story of learning the flute in a local Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and taking his first trip abroad and how these were life-changing for him.

Such early encounters with art and culture, he said, change us forever. But he added that those opportunities don’t go to every child and it’s not enough to focus on the class few who do break through the class ceiling.

Keir Starmer rightly said that every child deserves the chance to study the creative subjects that widen their horizons, provide skills employers do value, and prepares them for the future, the jobs and the world that they will inherit.

Boosting opportunities for all in our schools is a vital part of what this largely working class government should do to level up the playing field.

I have in mind efforts to increase oracy – the ability to fluently express yourself. I’m thinking of ensuring all benefit from work experience so they can see how their studies at school and into higher education advance plans for the rest of their lives.

None of us chooses to be born working class or middle class. But without a helping hand social mobility will be for the lucky few and we will continue to squander talent based on accidents of birth. It’s a mission that makes sense for all and for the future prosperity of our country.

Mary Glindon is Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend