General Election 2015: Lib Dems pledge to protect education spending
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.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.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments