TWO HAMPSHIRE MPs last night delivered petitions of thousands of signatures against proposals to tighten the rules on parents who educate their children at home.

Fareham’s Mark Hoban and Romsey’s Sandra Gidley presented part of the protest against the Badman Report into Home Education.

The report, which called for closer monitoring of home educators, including a compulsory annual registration scheme and a right of access to people’s homes for local authority officials, has been accepted by the Government.

But critics say the plans are an affront to privacy and would represent an “invasion of family life by the state”.