MINISTERS have been urged to scrap controversial plans for a new wave of grammar schools in England amid growing opposition to the reforms.

Labour’s Barry Sheerman, a former shadow education spokesman, said the Government should renounce its proposals to expand selective state school education and invest in all children, rather than the few.

Education Secretary Justine Greening hit back at criticism, saying that the reforms championed by Prime Minister Theresa May would create a system “that works in the 21st Century”.

It comes after a cross-party group led by former Tory education secretary Nicky Morgan and ex-Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg warned that the proposals would do nothing to promote social mobility among poorer pupils.

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Northern Ireland’s former deputy first minister and ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness has died aged 66.

Sinn Fein said in a statement: “It is with deep regret and sadness that we have learnt of the death of our friend and comrade Martin McGuinness who passed away in Derry during the night.

"He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.”

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A man is due to appear in court charged with the murder of a one-year-old boy and the attempted murder of a girl believed to be the child’s twin.

Both toddlers were discovered with critical injuries at a flat in Wilberforce Road, near Finsbury Park, north London, on Saturday night.

They were taken to hospital, where the boy died in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The girl, who has been operated on, remains in a critical condition, police said.

Bidhya Sagar Das, 33, of Wilberforce Road, is due to appear in custody at Thames Magistrates’ Court.

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