A COUNCILLOR has blasted a fellow politicians over his comments on York’s schools admissions policy.

Coun Ian Gillies, the leader of the Tory group on City of York Council, said Coun James Alexander, who is Labour’s group leader and temporary spokesman for education and children’s issues, should “at least understand the subjects he is talking about” before speaking.

As reported in The Press, Coun Alexander uncovered statistics showing that a quarter of children in his ward, Holgate, failed to get into their first-choice school this summer, while 100 per cent of children in Rural West achieved their first choice.

He said many had failed to get into Manor CE School because of a change in admission policy.

But Coun Gillies said it was quite right that a previous admissions policy, under which eight pupils had been denied admission to Manor while others in the class at Poppleton Ousebank School were granted access, had been changed.

The old policy would have meant pupils travelling from Hessay, Rufforth and Poppleton past Manor to other schools, said Coun Gillies, who represents Rural West York.