A COUNCILLOR walked out of a meeting, claiming he could no longer sit on a committee that presented “betrayal of primary school pupils” as a success.

Ric Morgan left the People Scrutiny Committee held at the Civic Centre on Tuesday night after it approved a plan to tackle the falling number of Southend primary pupils receiving places at its four grammar schools.

Mr Morgan, an independent, said he had “considerable concerns” about the plan and attacked a council press release praising the recent positive Ofsted reports for St Christopher School, Westborough Academy, Eastwood Primary and Hamstel Juniors.

Speaking after the meeting, he said: “The council is failing in its duty to afford our young children their educational rights, as indicated by the very low numbers of Southend children being selected for grammar school places.

“When the committee chose to submit the seriously flawed seven-point-plan I withdrew from the committee but, since that was the last meeting of this administration, there is no point in my resigning.

“I state, however, I would never accept a place on any committee chaired by councillor Alex Kaye, who chooses to trumpet the continued betrayal of our primary school pupils as some kind of success.”