Corbyn ‘finds’ another £3billion for schools
JEREMY Corbyn yesterday made an off-the- cuff pledge to spend an extra £3billion on schools over the next three years without saying where the money would come from.
The Labour leader insisted he would make up a shortfall in education funding and end the cash crisis. The pledge, which came at the annual conference of the National Association of Head Teachers, received a standing ovation from delegates.
School leaders have complained of having to cut staff and stationery budgets to make ends meet. Some are asking parents for donations. Mr Corbyn said schools were
losing out to the super rich and he vowed to change this. A party source said details of how the policy would be funded would be in the election manifesto.
But Conservative MP Graham Brady said: ‘Yet another unfunded spending pledge from Jeremy Corbyn will bring no real comfort to anyone. We need a strong, stable government delivering continued economic growth if we are to arrive at a genuinely fair funding arrangement for schools for the future.’ The Government says it has protected per pupil funding in real terms but headteachers insist this does not cover rising staff and pension costs. Schools in England will need to make £3billion of savings by 2019/20, according to the National Audit Office.
Asked if he was ‘brave enough’ to fully reverse the shortfall, Mr Corbyn replied: ‘I believe we are brave enough to do it because I see education as a complete priority. It unlocks the potential of children.
‘While funding to our children’s education is cut, multinational corporations have received multi-billion-pound tax giveaways. How can it be right that money is being siphoned straight out of our children’s schools and directly into the pockets of the super rich?’
Mr Corbyn hinted that money could be found for schools through a corporation tax rise: ‘If it’s a choice between a tax giveaway to the largest corporations paying the lowest rates of tax in the developed world, or funding for our schools, our choice will be very, very different from the choice that’s been made up to now.’
Delegates at the gathering in Telford, Shropshire, cheered when Mr Corbyn labelled Theresa May’s plans for new grammar schools ‘a vanity project’. He said it was very sad when he went to grammar school because ‘the town divided at 11’.
Mrs May told the BBC yesterday she would protect the core schools budget. She added: ‘The level of funding going into schools is at record levels. What we’re also looking at is introducing a greater degree of fairness in the way in which schools are funded.’