A LETTER from children at a Teesside school will be hand-delivered to the Prime Minister.

Ten and 11-year-olds from Elwick Primary School, near Hartlepool wrote a letter to their MP, Peter Mandelson.

In it, they asked him to help other children around the world have the same right to education that British children have.

Mr Mandelson, who conducted a question-and-answer session with the children and heard how they were electing a school council, promised he would give the letter to Tony Blair when he next saw him.

Headteacher Joy Vening said: "He was really good with the children, very direct and not at all patronising.

"I was very proud of the questions the children asked, and he told them how a good education can give them all sorts of opportunities in their lives.

"They have been doing a project about education here and around the world, which has made them think a bit, and they are also learning about democracy with their first school council, so Mr Mandelson was very interested."