Liberal Democrats Education Commitment Stacks Up

What some analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) on the Liberal Democrats' education commitment to provide an additional £2.5bn of funding for 2-19yr olds by 2020 shows.

The IFS said the Liberal Democrat education spending plans are

"more generous than what is implied by the Labour and Conservative commitments"

They also pointed out that

"the Liberal Democrats are committed to protecting a larger part of education spending than are the Conservatives"

They agreed that the Liberal Democrat commitments will

"protect 2-19 education spending per pupil in real terms"

backing up Nick Clegg's commitment earlier today to guarantee education funding "from cradle to college"

Liberal Democrat Schools Minister David Laws said:

"Liberal Democrats will protect funding for every pupil in real terms - reflecting the half a million children set to arrive in schools over the course of the next parliament.

"It's astonishing that Labour and the Conservatives won't properly fund these children. It will be impossible to provide a place for every child and raise standards unless we protect education budgets.

"Every parent getting an offer today wants to know their child will be attending a great school. Protecting education means we can put a qualified teacher in every classroom, expand early years education and support the children who need extra help."