Tristram Hunt tells man enquiring about Labour education policy to 'stop moaning' and 'do some work'

Mr Mann, who questioned the education secretary, said he had been made to feel like a 'little person'

Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt has been criticised for his blunt response to an enquiry about Labour education policy (Getty Images)

Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt has been criticised for a blunt tweet aimed at a person making enquiries about Labour’s education policy.

Thomas Mann, from south London, asked Hunt how to direct him towards details of Labours education policies, to which the shadow education secretary replied with a link to Labour’s website.

Mann responded that the site "only contains soundbites" and asked for details covering "the full complexity of education policy".

Hunt then told Mr Mann to "stop moaning. Read the speeches. Do some work. Your industry will be rewarded".

After the exchange Mr Mann told Politics.co.uk that he had been made to feel like a "little person".

"I felt very condescended by him," he added. "I think politicians have lost the idea of who their employers really are and who they are meant to serve."

Mr Mann said education had become very important to him after his child's secondary school in Lewisham had been forced to become an academy, despite local opposition.

The incident was followed shortly by David Cameron’s education speech, where it was announced that the Conservative party announced they would convert up to 3,500 more failing schools into academies.

Under current rules, only schools which are judged "inadequate" can be forced to convert into academies. Under new Conservative plans, even schools which Ofsted judge to "require improvement" would have to change.

Cameron also said the Conservatives would ringfence the education budget.

Speaking on the Andrew Marr show, education secretary Nicky Morgan said she was "absolutely fighting for the school’s budget to be protected".

She made it clear that the ringfence would apply to education for five to 16-year-olds, but did not commit to protections for early years or further education.