£31 million extra for Newcastle schools under Lib Dem education plans

The Liberal Democrats have announced they will invest over £31 million more in schools and colleges in Newcastle upon Tyne over the next parliament.

The funding for Newcastle would reverse cuts to frontline school and college budgets, protect per pupil funding in real terms and ensure no school loses out from changes to funding arrangements.

Nearly £2.8 million the funding would be spent on protecting the Pupil Premium, introduced by the Liberal Democrats to help the most disadvantaged children. Pupil premium spending and success is reported on websites for most schools in the City.

Dr Nick Cott, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate for Newcastle Central and Shadow Education member on Newcastle City Council (pictured), said:

"Children in Newcastle are being taught in overcrowded classes by overworked teachers.

"Under the Conservatives, funding per pupil is set to see the biggest cuts in a generation, while billions of pounds are being spent on divisive plans to expand grammars and free schools.

"This extra £31 million of funding here would ensure no local school and no local child loses out.

"We will reverse Conservative cuts to school budgets and invest more to ensure every child has the opportunity to succeed."

Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron said:

"A landslide for the Conservatives would allow Theresa May to take parents across the country for granted and cut our schools to the bone.

"Only the Liberal Democrats can provide the strong opposition Britain needs to stand up for Newcastle.

"Vote for the Liberal Democrats and you can change Britain's future."

Footnotes :

The Liberal Democrats will invest £6.9bn more in our schools and colleges nationwide over the next parliament, to ensure no school and no child loses out. A breakdown of local figures on additional funding by local authority can be found here.

Over the course of the Parliament, we will:

• Protect per pupil funding in real terms in schools (£3.31bn)
• Protect further education per pupil funding in real terms (£660m)
• Ensure no school loses out from the National Funding Formula (£1.26bn)
• Protect the pupil premium in real terms (£415m)

These plans will be fully costed in the Liberal Democrat manifesto, which will be launched in due course and set all our spending plans out in more detail. This will include reversing the Government's proposed funding for new grammar schools.

A report by the National Audit Office has found school budgets will be slashed by £3bn in real terms by 2019-20 - the equivalent to reducing spending by 8 per cent per pupil, under current government plans (link)