Breakfast clubs for under-11s

CONTROVERSIAL school funding cuts would be halted under a £4billion manifesto pledge by Theresa May today designed to reassure anxious parents.

The Prime Minister will pledge that the intervention means ‘no child will lose out’ from a shake-up which had threatened to leave thousands of schools worse off.

Free school meals for four to seven-yearolds are to be axed to help pay for the move although those from poor families will still qualify. But every primary pupil in Eng-

land will be offered the chance to go to a breakfast club at school which Tory sources say will provide similar educational gains.

Mrs May’s move will help head off a Tory revolt over school funding. Senior Tories hope it will also curb backbench opposition to plans for new grammar schools.

Last night a party source said the plans would mean a ‘real terms increase’ in funding for schools in every year of the next Parliament compared to current plans.

A Conservative spokesman said: ‘This extra money means no child will lose out.’

Plans to change the school funding formula were launched by former education secretary Nicky Morgan and aimed to address the funding gap between pupils in the shires and those in urban areas. It led to dozens of Tory MPs warning Mrs May they would refuse to back the plans in the Commons.