Labour today pledged to stop the cuts to school budgets by investing nearly £5bn into the education system.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced his party would create a National Education Service that would be funded by reversing the Conservative Party’s cuts to corporation tax.
They estimated this would raise £19.4bn.
‘Our new National Education Service will transform our schools and education system to ensure a future for the many not the few,’ said Mr Corbyn.
‘We will reverse the Conservatives’ tax giveaways to big business and put money back where it belongs, in our schools, our colleges and our communities.’
A Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report, published at the end of March, warned the education system was facing the biggest funding shortfall since the 1990s.
It revealed schools would have to cut spending by £3bn by 2019-20 because of real-terms reductions in funding per pupil under the current Government.
Labour insisted they would ensure all schools had the funding they required, including £4.8bn per year for English schools by 2021-22. This would be part of £5.66bn additional annual funding across the UK by the end of the Parliament.
As part of their education plans, the opposition party also said it would reduce class sizes to under 30 for all five, six and seven year olds, and provide free school meals for all primary school children.
This latter policy, which House of Commons Library research costed at £700-£900m, would be paid for by VAT on private schools.
‘Our plans for a new National Education Service show there is a clear choice at this election. Between the Tories who have broken their promises to parents and children, or a Labour party with a real plan for education for the many not the few,’ said the shadow secretary of education Angela Rayner.
‘We will invest in schools and in our young people, ensuring no primary pupils go hungry during the day, reducing class sizes so children can learn and teachers can teach, and restoring the maintenance allowance and grants for students in both further and higher education.’
The Liberal Democrats have also announced they would invest 6.9bn in schools and colleges over the next parliament, and would ensure no school loses out from the National Funding Formula.
Liberal Democrat shadow education secretary, Sarah Olney, said: 'This extra £7bn of funding would ensure no school and no child loses out.
'We will reverse crippling Conservative cuts to school budgets and invest to ensure every child has the opportunity to succeed.'
