Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to “U-turn” and support proposals to require all schools in England to enforce a mobile phone ban.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch questioned why the Government opposed a Tory amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which sought to make it mandatory for schools to prohibit mobile phone use during the school day.
Sir Keir dismissed the proposal as “completely unnecessary,” arguing that “almost every school” already has such a ban in place. Instead, he highlighted concerns over the content children can access on their phones, regardless of whether they are in school.
Speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions, Mrs Badenoch accused Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson of “making a mess of her brief” and asked:
“Why did Labour MPs vote against banning phones in schools last week?”
Schools already implementing bans
Sir Keir responded:
“Because it’s completely unnecessary. I’ve got teenage children. Almost every school bans phones in school. They do it already.”
He continued:
**“We need to concentrate on what’s really important here, which is getting to the content that children shouldn’t be accessing. That’s where I would genuinely like to work across the House because I think there’s a huge amount of work to do.
“But the battle is not with schools that are already banning phones in school.
“The battle, and this is an important emerging battle, is to work together to ensure that we can control the content that children are accessing wherever they are.”**
Badenoch presses for a U-turn
Mrs Badenoch countered by questioning why the Government had launched a review into mobile phone use in schools if a ban was truly unnecessary.
“Just last week, his Education Secretary called a ban a ‘gimmick’, yet teachers and headteachers already say the evidence shows that schools which ban phones get better results.”
She claimed that only one in ten schools are entirely smartphone-free and pressed the Prime Minister:
“So, will he U-turn on this?”
Sir Keir maintained that while all schools should enforce mobile phone restrictions, most already do, making further legislation unnecessary.
“We need to ensure that all schools do this – but the vast majority do.”
He reiterated his position:
**“It is really important that we focus on the battle we have to have with mobile phones, which is the content that children are able to access.
“We need to ensure that is controlled wherever they are, so it’s a question of having the right battle on the right issue, not wasting time on something where almost all schools are already banning mobile phones.”**
Education standards under scrutiny
Sir Keir later insisted the Government is “pushing up standards” in education.
Mrs Badenoch, however, criticised Labour’s stance on school discipline, citing government evidence which suggests that mobile phones disrupt nearly half of GCSE classes daily.
**“His own Government evidence says that phones disrupt nearly half of GCSE classes every single day. Discipline is the number one issue in many schools.
“Under the Conservatives, schools became twice as likely to be rated good or outstanding after going through our behaviour programme.
“So why did the Education Secretary abolish that programme?”**
Sir Keir hit back, accusing the previous Conservative Government of failing to prepare children adequately for school.
**“Under their watch, a third of children started school without appropriate development – not being able to use a knife and fork.
“A quarter left primary school without the required standard of reading, writing, and maths.
“One in five was regularly absent.
“That is why we’re pushing up standards, more information from Ofsted, transparency for parents, and more interventions where schools need it.”**
‘No guarantee’ on teachers’ jobs
Mrs Badenoch went further, accusing Sir Keir of lacking commitment to school discipline.
“He doesn’t care about discipline in schools. Everything he does is ideological.”
Sir Keir denied this, stating:
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**“I’m a parent of two teenage children, both of whom go to a state school. So I’m invested in this, and it matters hugely to me.
“There’s nothing ideological about it. That is why we’re driving up standards, as we always have done.”**
The exchange then moved to education funding, with Mrs Badenoch questioning whether the Government would compensate schools for additional costs linked to employer national insurance increases.
“Can he guarantee no teacher will lose their job as a result of his jobs tax?”
Sir Keir defended the Government’s record on education spending but did not provide a direct assurance.
Mrs Badenoch concluded:
“The whole House will have heard that he could not guarantee that teachers’ jobs are safe.”
