EDUCATION Secretary Charles Clarke has come under fire after hinting he could make it easier for grammar schools to be abolished in parental ballots.

Kent Conservative MP Damian Green, who challenged the Secretary of State about his plans, said his comments were “ominous” and could point to changes resulting in massive upheaval for Kent schools.

Mr Clarke was responding to a Parliamentary question from Mr Green. The Ashford MP, the party’s former education spokesman, pressed him to rule out changing the ballot rules to make it easier for anti-selection campaigners to trigger parental votes on the future of the 11-plus.

In his answer, Mr Clarke said the Government’s formal response to a critical report by MPs on the grammar ballot regulations would be published shortly and would address “precisely that point.”

But he also referred to an Ofsted report on standards that showed Kent had a significant number of poorly-performing secondary schools compared to similar education authorities.

Mr Clarke told Mr Green the Ofsted report was “worth examining in some detail” because it identified the selective system's impact on every child in Kent.

The Ashford MP said he had interpreted that comment to mean the Government wanted to re-open the selection debate.

He said: “It is ominous. The Government’s stance to date has been to do nothing and let sleeping dogs lie and that is the sensible course of action. Any upheaval hanging over Kent schools would not just be bad for grammars but for all schools. The parents of Kent have already spoken.”

“When anti-selection campaigners tried to get enough signatures for a vote, they fell short by thousands. Frankly, it would be better if we left it at that.”

The Kent Messenger Group is campaigning for the ballot regulations to be scrapped after exposing how £1.7million of public money had been wasted on preparations for ballots that have never taken place.