Prime Minister Theresa May has dramatically transformed the ­education landscape with plans for new grammar schools and an end to capping faith school places for children of faith. Liz Dodd explains the changes and their consequences

It was an extraordinarily fulsome letter of congratulation. “I am personally delighted at your appointment,” wrote Cardinal Vincent Nichols to the new Prime Minister, Theresa May. “I know from the work we have done together that you have so many qualities to bring to the service of our countries at this time. I appreciate the maturity of judgement, the steely resolve, the sense of justice and the personal integrity and warmth you have always shown,” he said. The cardinal and the former Home Secretary had discovered that they see eye to eye in their work together and with Pope Francis on human trafficking, and the mutual regard was evident, not only in this letter, but in the cardinal’s invitation to Number 10 soon after May’s appointment as Prime Minister in the aftermath of the EU referendum in June.

Archbishops of Westminster have always made education one of their highest priorities and there is no doubt that Catholic schools must have been one of the most pressing issues for Cardinal Nichols during his visit to Downing Street, particularly as their growth had been limited in recent years by the Church’s refusal to co-operate with what it saw as an unfair 50-per-cent cap on faith-based admissions to new faith schools.