Downing Street has reportedly ditched a campaign to promote Rishi Sunak’s “maths to 18” policy after officials obtained only one case study – a film-maker who believes the proposal to be “misguided” and “tone deaf”.
The prime minister’s office appears to have left it until the last minute to seek endorsements from people across British industry for a social media push, the Times reports. Stephen Follows, a leading film data analyst, was approached on Friday, three days before the PM relaunched the policy with a speech in London.
Follows was never asked whether he agreed with Sunak’s mission for mandatory maths for all students beyond GCSE to the age of 18.
Writing for the Times, Follows, who says he was approached last Friday to become a “maths champion” for the campaign, said: “Nobody thought to ask me whether I support this policy”.
He added: “I’m delighted to have this platform to share my views because I think their one-size-fits-all policy is misguided, tone deaf to the actual needs of students and may even be counterproductive.
