Lib Dems accuse Tories of planning to slash education budget after briefing note photograph
The Liberal Democrats have accused their coalition partners of planning to "slash" the education budget after the next election.
It followed the photograph of a briefing note at yesterday's Conservative press conference which suggested the answers ministers should give if reporters asked about their plans for education.
The Lib Dem Schools Minister, David Laws, claims the Tories will need to cut the education budget by a quarter in order to meet their own deficit reduction targets.
Mr Laws says this would mean a saving £13.3 billion pounds from education funding including £9 billion from schools, £1.6 billion from the 16-19 budget and £775 million from early years education.
The Conservatives have the most ambitious plans of all the parties to cut the deficit and return a surplus by the end of the next Parliament in 2020.
Labour has warned that the plan will mean cutting spending as a proportion of GDP to levels not seen since the 1930s (although there were a couple of years during Tony Blair's administration when it came close).
The briefing note photographed yesterday was being held by William Hague.
It suggested ministers should refuse to give any detail about Conservative plans for the education budget by saying:
'Of course there will be difficult decisions in the Education budget in the next Parliament'
'We can only have strong schools by staying on the road to a stronger economy'
'If pressed' the note urged ministers to say 'these will be matters for future spending reviews'
Liberal Democrat Schools Minister David Laws said: “The Tories have now revealed their true colours for all to see.
"They want to slash spending on education that’s desperately needed to provide children a fair and equal opportunity to succeed."