General Election 2015: Lib Dems pledge to protect education spending

Lib Dems will commit to an additional £2.5bn of funding for two- to 19-year-olds in education by 2020 (PA)

The Liberal Democrats will today become the only major political party to make a manifesto pledge to protect education spending in real terms after the next election.

Labour has promised to raise the schools budget in line with inflation if it wins power – but the pledge takes no account of an expected 300,000 more primary pupils who will be enrolled by 2018.

Equally, the Conservatives have promised to “protect” the schools budget – but that could mean it reduces in real terms as the pledge takes no account of inflation.

By contrast, the Lib Dems will commit to an additional £2.5bn of funding for two- to 19-year-olds in education by 2020. The party will say the extra money will allow new teachers to be recruited to cope with the rise in pupil numbers and to help provide more small-group tuition.