In the light of the government's recent White Paper, we outline the history of the academisation programme, positioning it as part of the neo-liberal privatisation drive which has been sustained since the 1988 Education Reform Act under governments of all stripes. We contest central claims made for the supposed benefits of academisation, and call for a national campaign to bring all schools and education services under democratic local authority oversight, in line with policy endorsed at the 2019 Labour Party conference.