Diana Barran

Former Minister for School System and Student Finance and Lords Minister for Dept for Education 2021-24. Mother of 4, wife of a Saint.

[Diana Barran @dianabarran]

As my time as a minister has now ended, I wanted to acknowledge what an extraordinary privilege it is to serve in government and how grateful I am to have had the opportunity.

For me, there are three main reasons that make this so special. 1/13

[Diana Barran @dianabarran]

And I am both honoured and excited to become part of the fantastic @GreenshawTrust team. Looking forward to learning so much and understanding how our schools achieve great things for our pupils

[Greenshaw Learning Trust @GreenshawTrust]

We are delighted to announce that the Board of Trustees has appointed Baroness @dianabarran as the new Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Greenshaw Learning Trust.

https://t.co/7rk31xiyAZ

[Diana Barran @dianabarran]

Great piece from @StuartLock - “We stopped pretending that culture would improve through hope.”👇

[Stuart Lock @StuartLock]

I wrote this blog as a part of the bulletin to colleagues in @advschools today. It reflects on where my views on culture, consistency and leadership come from, focussing on behaviour and culture: https://t.co/0sezBnJcX2

[Raise The Age @RaiseTheAge16]

🚨 BREAKING NEWS: Government announces social media ban for under-16s.

Finally, they listened. Thank you to the parents and campaigners who spoke out, and to the Government for listening.

[Looking for Growth @lfg_uk]

Britain is in an Energy Emergency.

But the Government is FAILING TO ACT. They have no plan, no idea what to do, and they’re leaving us exposed.

So today we’re launching The LFG Emergency Energy Bill to SAVE OUR INDUSTRIES and GET BILLS DOWN

Here’s how it would get bills down IMMEDIATELY:

1️⃣ SCRAP all levies on energy bills. These stealth taxes on the British people are unnecessarily hiking up their bills by hundreds of pounds.

2️⃣ REOPEN THE NORTH SEA, and directly deploy the tax revenue generated to GET BILLS DOWN.

3️⃣ Stop new CfD contracts and launch an investigation into the system that signed them off. Last year, billpayers paid £1.5 billion for big renewable corporations to THROW ENERGY AWAY. By 2030, it’ll be £8 billion. The existing settlement is a national scandal.

4️⃣ Scrap Clean Power 2030 targets. These needless constraints have pushed civil servants to procure wind at any cost – and at huge expense to the British people.

5️⃣ DITCH the duties of energy regulators, NESO and Ofgem, towards Net Zero goals, so their only focus is to MINIMISE ENERGY COSTS, subject to security of supply.

6️⃣ Hold auctions for connecting to the grid, and directly deploy the revenue generated to GET BILLS DOWN

Our Emergency Energy Bill has cross-party support. It is ready to PASS IMMEDIATELY. It does what governments for the past 20 years didn’t – it takes RADICAL ACTION to SAVE OUR INDUSTRIES and GET BILLS DOWN.

There’s no excuse. Last week, the US suspended access to some of the world’s leading frontier AI models. Britain is vulnerable - and our energy prices are strangling our national security. We cannot afford to be at the mercy of other countries or events beyond our control any longer.

The Government needs to GET BILLS DOWN NOW or explain why they’re still letting this emergency destroy our future.

Force Westminster to ACT. Send our Bill to your local MP and sign our letter to the Prime Minister and Ed Miliband. GET BILLS DOWN, NOW!

[Diana Barran @dianabarran]

@amanda_spielman @baronesscash Very kind. You will both be brilliant

[Diana Barran @dianabarran]

💯 And remember these questions when we get to the next general election 👇

[Tim Shipman @ShippersUnbound]

Having seen this show multiple times, MPs will be asking themselves “can I get a better job?” And “will the new leader swing the way my heart desires?” Labour MPs will do themselves and the country a favour if they use their heads and ask every leadership contender these questions:

1) What is your plan? Not the vibes or the direction of travel. The actual policies they will prioritise

2) How will you communicate this plan to the voters? (MPs ask yourself if the candidate is a good communicator because without that they are lost)

3) Who is your team to enact this plan both a) in the key cabinet posts and b) in Downing Street. At a bare minimum they should have identified a chief of staff and a director of communications

4) How will your plan persuade the markets not to blow up the government on the launching pad?

If you don’t get proper answers to all these questions move on. Unless they have good answers to all these questions you will be installing another dud

[Kemi Badenoch @KemiBadenoch]

In the midst of all the news today, and with Parliament prorogued, many people may not have noticed that this was the final time the hereditary peers sat in Parliament before being forced out by Labour.

I want to pay an extra special tribute to them.

Combined they had 1784 years of parliamentary experience, wisdom and service to this country. That is not something easily replaced, and it should not be casually discarded.

Most were Conservatives. All were public servants.

They have brought to public life judgment shaped over decades, deep expertise, institutional memory, and a sense of duty that has strengthened Parliament and, very often, improved legislation in ways the public will never fully see.

Their record speaks for itself. They have served in war and peace, in government and opposition, in defence, diplomacy, farming, business, science and public service. They have not merely occupied seats in the Lords, they have contributed to the life of the nation.

That is why what has happened matters. Hereditary peers are a living part of Britain’s constitutional inheritance that Labour is casually tearing up.

Labour has rubbed away another part of our heritage, not to strengthen Parliament but to replace it with political appointees, four of whom it has already had to suspend the whip from because they were so inappropriate. That contrast says rather a lot.

At a time when public trust in politics is fragile, I think it is worth saying plainly that experience, seriousness and tradition still matter. Service still matters. Duty still matters.

So today, as an era closes, I want to put on record my profound gratitude and admiration for our hereditary peers. Britain has been better governed because of them. The Conservative Party has been stronger because of them. And Parliament will be poorer without them.

Their contribution will long outlast the petty politics that has brought this moment about.

[Sarah Vine @WestminsterWAG]

We already effectively have digital ID - everyone's digital footprint is tracked all day, every day, only at the moment the only people who benefit are the social media platforms and tech giants who harvest our data and use it to line their coffers. The main thing is to protect young people from these unscrupulous vultures, who refuse to take any responsibility for the harms they cause. @LauraTrottMP and @KemiBadenoch have six children between them, and so understand perfectly the need for these protections, as do most parents. This is a pathetic and lazy argument against enforcing basic online boundaries for minors.

[Daisy Christodoulou @daisychristo]

This in today's Guardian is an example of what I mean about politicians ignoring Wales & Scotland.

Alan Milburn wants to reduce youth unemployment by getting schools to focus less on exams & more on soft skills.

He doesn't mention that Wales & Scotland already do this, and have more NEETs than England.

https://t.co/C0gBbz6gac

https://t.co/Qv5s2uXUwS

[Molly Kingsley @lensiseethrough]

Biased, stuffed full of leading questions and lagging hopelessly behind a mountain of accumulated, real world evidence demonstrating harm. My latest for today's @Daily_Express on the Government social media consultation.

https://t.co/pyI9Zu3ULq

[Conservative Peers @HLConservatives]

Today the Conservatives successfully amended the Crime and Policing Bill to take tougher action on fly tipping.

The Government voted against our Conservative amendment.

Watch @Byron_Davies make the case for more police powers to tackle fly tipping.

[New Schools Network @theNSN]

🎉Campaign Win - Fixing the Schools Bill

The Lords have once again voted to protect good school places.

Thank you @dianabarran for championing this.

[Stuart Lock @StuartLock]

Very intelligent from Ben Newmark on the proposed SEND reforms: https://t.co/TkovlRgJSB

[Cllr Lucy Trimnell 🫖 @LucyTrims]

It was fantastic to have @Katie_Lam_MP speak at our South West Conservative Women’s Organisation conference today along with a fantastic range of other speakers including @dianabarran, @JulianEllacott and a fab range of panellists too.

Katie thought our glorious Somerset Countryside was stunning and the journey took us through the beautiful Somerset market town of Crewkerne, home of @CrewkerneMan and the @CrewkerneGaz.

I am particularly pleased with this photo because although I look a little hunched I was reminded that I have a sunroof in the car and that as it gets sunnier (🤞🏼) and warmer I’ll need to close the cover!

[Diana Barran @dianabarran]

Important that students have the data to choose the right university and the right course - before commiting to take on student debt. Sign the Petition https://t.co/lMRazCtHEy @lfg_uk

[Diana Barran @dianabarran]

No words …

[Politics UK @PolitlcsUK]

🚨 NEW: MPs have voted against an amendment to ban social media for under-16s

Yes: 173
No: 307

[Diana Barran @dianabarran]

The easy way or the hard way - MPs must force social media to clean up | LBC #RaiseTheAge https://t.co/J2aOaMIV1Z

[Laura Trott MP @LauraTrottMP]

Banning smartphones in schools should be a no brainer. Teachers see the disruption & pupils themselves say smartphones hold back their learning & GCSE results while exposing them to disturbing content. MPs will vote tonight & I hope they do the right thing and back the ban.

[Laura Trott MP @LauraTrottMP]

If MPs want smartphones out of schools and children off social media then they should do the right thing and vote for it tomorrow.

We can and must do more to protect childhood and back parents and teachers to improve behaviour and attainment in our schools.