Labour to raise public sector English language requirement

Gordon Brown will announce today that all public sector workers will be expected to speak English.

Labour is to propose a more comprehensive English language requirement for all new applicants for public sector job, writes the Times.

This is one of a series of initiatives aimed at convincing voters that the prime minister understands their concerns, particularly against a background of severe spending cuts in the public sector.

Others include moves to make it easier to sack under-performing police chiefs and to merge one-third of all secondary schools, bringing them under the control of “super-heads”.

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Labour will also outline new plans for tackling youth unemployment, and will commit to increasing the minimum wage.

Labour campaign chief Lord Mandelson said: “This is the next logical step from what Tony Blair oversaw. If anything, it’s bolder and harder because we’re tailoring services to the individual and taking on parts of the public services that may have been failing.”