The prime minister announced plans to double the number of city academies and trust schools today.
Speaking at a Specialist Schools and Academies Trust conference Tony Blair said that the government planned to double its target for academies to 400 by 2010 and that the number of schools working towards trust status would increase from 50 to 100 by next spring.
Blair said that the government had decided to increase the number of academies due to demand already outstripping the previous target of 200 by 2010.
Both academies and trusts are independent of local authorities and have controls over their assets and admissions, which has provoked fears both will exclude more vulnerable children.