Suella Braverman has launched a scathing attack on the National Education Union after the trade union passed a motion against Reform UK.
Speaking to GB News, Reform UK's education spokeswoman hit out at the NEU for "declaring war" against the party, accusing teachers of "crossing the line into extremism".
The largest teaching union in the UK passed a motion today to combat what they call the "far-right racism" of Reform UK in classrooms.
The National Education Union committed the union to distribute so-called "anti-racist teaching materials" at its recent annual conference in Brighton.
NEU chief Daniel Kebede argued the union bloc at the protest “needs to be huge, with workers front and centre saying they’re opposed to the far right”.
He said: "What we have seen, in the age of Trump in particular, is those in power using racism to feather their own nests, whether it’s Donald Trump, whether it’s Nigel Farage.
“What’s even worse is we’ve seen the Prime Minister, instead of taking it on, tail-end it with the ‘island of strangers’ nonsense that he pedalled last year.”
Expressing her fury with Mr Kebede's attack on Reform, Mrs Braverman told GB News: "Unions can be political, but the NEU has now crossed the line into extremism.
"It's partisan. It's militant, and it's effectively declared war on Reform UK. And in passing this motion and encouraging its members, of which it represents 500,000 teachers, to use politicised and partisan material in the classroom is actually undermining the law."
Explaining how it undermines the law, the Reform MP made clear that teachers are "legally obliged not to teach partisan or politicised material in the classroom".
She said: "Lots of teachers break that obligation, I dare say, and they are breaking the law in doing so.
"But the NEU is now flagrantly in breach of the law to encourage teachers to be partisan, to be political, to promote an ideology in the classroom that is not education, that is indoctrination."
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Questioned on whether her party would "smash the unions" if they were elected into power, Mrs Braverman declared that she would adopt a "robust approach to tackle indoctrination".
She told GB News: "This is a widespread problem, so in a Reform UK administration, any teacher that is campaigning in the classroom and pushing a politicised partisan ideology in the classroom will be sacked, and every parent will have the right to know what is being taught to their children.
"Parents need to be empowered and there needs to be a good application, a fair application of the law. Keep politics out of the classroom."
Defending the growing popularity and success of Reform UK, Mrs Braverman concluded: "We have democratically elected members of Parliament, and we are the most popular party in British politics right now.
"This is straying into political campaigning in the classroom, and it's unacceptable.
"All of this contested ideological nonsense is not for the classroom. The classroom should be free from all politics, just teach facts and let children be children."
In a statement, NEU National Executive Member Leigh Seedhouse said: "The rise of Reform UK, with its relentless scapegoating of migrants, is a warning.
"Stand up to racism cannot work alone. We need the union organisation behind it."
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