It is understandable that Councillor Ralph Berry would want to defend Bradford’s performance in the education league tables, even in the face of the district’s schools not having an enviable record for many years.

The vicious attacks on Bradford by both Michael Gove and now Lord Nash, using terms such as “appalling” and “deluded,” are completely unnecessary.

It isn’t as if the Government is covering itself in glory with education provision nationally, in particular with the problems of the free schools in Derby and here in Bradford with the Kings Science Academy.

The reality of the situation is that there are a lot of very good teachers and schools in Bradford who are working hard to improve results, and people like Mr Gove and Lord Nash seem not to have spent much time considering the circumstances facing many Bradford schools.

Some inner city schools are beset with problems such as the physical state of out-of-date buildings and the difficulties of having many children arriving for their first day with English as a second language – and often not as a language at all.

There are schools in Bradford where more than three-quarters of the pupils have come from families only recently arrived in the country from various parts of the world: last year it was reported that there are more than 140 languages being spoken by children in Bradford schools.

Bradford Council is far from perfect but, instead of spouting vitriol and free market ideology, both Lord Nash and Michael Gove would be better served spending a day or two – and not just a quick visit for a photocall – at the chalkface in some of those struggling Bradford schools to find out the real problems involved in turning round Bradford’s educational attainment.