New Hitchin & Harpenden MP makes maiden speech on education

A new Conservative MP has urged the Government to put more resources into education after saying his schooling at Eton gave him "an amazing start in life".

Making his maiden speech in Parliament, Bim Afolami said education was at the heart of improving people's prospects, saying that more resources were needed in many areas to make the funding system fairer.

The new MP for Hitchin and Harpenden told MPs that his mother and father came to Britain from Nigeria in the 1980s in search of a better life.

He added: "In particular, they believed that a good quality education is the key, not just for giving a child, an individual, a decent start in life, but being the foundation for the future health and prosperity for our society as a whole."

Mr Afolami said there had been much debate in the election campaign over funding and bureaucracy faced by teachers, saying he wanted "more of the former and less of the latter".

Afolami said he has promised his constituents that he will bring a "relentless focus to this area" and intends to do for every single day that he's in this House.

Education was central to tackling the UK's future challenges such as the economy and social care, Mr Afolami said.

He added: "The world class human capital produced by our education system needs to be combined with the financial capital investment with better infrastructure and a more competitive, simpler tax system for individuals and businesses."