SURREY County Council leader David Hodge welcomed the Government’s climbdown on plans to force all of England’s schools to become academies.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan hoped the concessions would meet the demands of Tory rebels against compelling high-achieving schools to convert, and came days after head teachers threatened industrial action.

Following last Friday’s U-turn, Mr Hodge said: “We’re very pleased the Secretary of State has listened to councils’ feedback on the proposals, and I look forward to continuing the work we have started with her to get the final policy right so our children get the best education possible.

“Surrey has some of the best state schools in the country – 92 per cent are currently rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted – and a quarter of them are academies. We support academies where they will improve education for our young people but it is vital local choice remains.”

Hampshire County Council’s education chairman Peter Edgar had been one of the biggest critics of the academies plan announced in the Budget, in March. He said the climbdown prevented an “extremely costly” revolution in the way children would have been taught.

He said: "This is a major step forward and will lead to a common sense evolution in education, keeping what is best in local authority partnerships with schools, rather than a revolution which could have been extremely costly and led to good, or outstanding local education authorities, to disappear.”