38 per cent of the public support opening new grammar schools, poll suggests

Only 38 per cent of people believe that the government should build more grammar schools and encourage more schools to select on academic ability, according to a YouGov poll.

The poll was conducted after it was revealed that Prime Minister Theresa May is considering lifting the ban on building new grammar schools put in place by the Labour government in 1997.

The results of the poll suggest there isn’t a huge amount of public support for the idea, but responses were mixed.

While 23 per cent of people polled believed that grammar schools should be forced to accept children of all abilities, 35 per cent said they believed that grammars improve social mobility, with only 19 per cent thinking they damage social mobility and a further 27 per cent saying they make no difference at all.

The results also found that when it came to the more personal choice of which school people would choose to send their own children to, grammars appeared much more popular. 67 per cent of respondents said they would send their child to a grammar school if they had passed an entrance exam, with just 10 per cent saying they would not.

The poll also found that grammar schools were overwhelmingly favoured by those who attended them, with 61 per cent wanting the government to build more, compared to 17 per cent who want them all scrapped.