19:12
Tieng Anh Vui
Labour is behind parents who want to set up schools and would not shut any existing free schools, the new shadow education secretary insists.
Tristram Hunt told the Mail on Sunday he wanted to address the perception Labour was not on the side of parents.
He said a Labour government would push ahead with its own version of the principle - parent-led academies.
The government accuses Labour of saying it will end free schools and then promoting them under another name.
Labour sources quoted by the Press Association news agency said Mr Hunt was continuing with plans for parent academies set out by his predecessor, Stephen Twigg, and the party's position on free schools had not changed.
Free schools, set up by parents and other groups and operating outside local authority control, have been established under a flagship policy pioneered by Education Secretary Michael Gove.
Labour's parent-led academies would also enable parent groups and other organisations to set up schools outside local authority control, but the party has previously indicated local authorities would have greater powers to intervene when there were concerns about standards.
Mr Hunt said he wanted to put "rocket boosters" on getting behind parents and social entrepreneurs who wished to get involved in education.
'More innovation'
He said: "What I am saying is if you want to do that when we are in government, we will be on your side. There has been this perception that we would not be, and I want people to be absolutely clear that we are.
"We are not going to go back to the old days of the local authority running all the schools - they will not be in charge. We will keep those free schools going. We aren't in the business of taking them down.
"We have to clear up this question which has dogged Labour education policy since we entered opposition and since Michael Gove began his reforms, as to what we'd do.
"We just want to say 'you are setting up these schools, we are behind you'."
Mr Hunt said he wanted to see more "innovation, creativity, community engagement" displayed in the best free schools.
He expressed regret at having at one time called free schools a "vanity project for yummy mummies".
"I regret those comments because I think any parents, be they yummy mummies or faddy daddies, involved in the education of their children is great," he said.
He said he would happily send his own three young children to a free school.
Television historian Mr Hunt replaced Mr Twigg in Ed Miliband's shadow cabinet reshuffle earlier this week.
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