Lib Dems warn of education cuts

8.42.13am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 5th Jun 2008

Disadvantaged pupils should attract extra funding, says Nick Clegg

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has warned that England's schools are heading for a "funding squeeze". In a speech at the Institute for Public Policy Research, Mr Clegg said education is a key priority for the Liberal Democrats. " Labour's slogan of 'education, education, education' will be replaced by one of 'cuts, cuts, cuts'. Education spending will be frozen in the rest of this parliament and that many schools will face real funding cuts this year."

Mr Clegg pledged to halt reductions in school budgets and reaffirm the party's commitment to put an extra £2bn a year into the education budget. "For many schools, Blair's 'Education, Education, Education', is about to become Brown's 'Cuts, cuts, cuts'," he said.

A survey by the Liberal Democrats of local authorities has found that of the 50 which responded, one in three was facing real cuts in funding per pupil this year and that proportion will receive below-inflation increases in funding per pupil.

A key plank of the party's approach to education would be to match funding to need. Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds would attract extra funding which would go directly to schools. This extra money would follow the pupil to whichever school he or she attends.

Nick Clegg said in his speech, "It would be a powerful incentive for schools in more advantaged areas to take on more challenging pupils. And it would also be a huge financial boost to schools with large numbers of such pupils."