David Cameron promises to ring-fence £48bn schools spending

A pledge to protect schools spending today tightened the noose around other government departments including welfare, policing and defence.

David Cameron was announcing in a speech in north London that he will ring-fence the £48 billion spent on schooling for five to 16-year-olds in cash terms if the Tories are re-elected.

He was expected to say: “We have demonstrated in the past five years that we can protect the schools budget while reducing the deficit — and we will do so again.

“It means that, with a Conservative government, the amount of money following your child into school will not be cut.”

Mr Cameron’s pledge increases the share of Whitehall spending that has been committed in the next Parliament, meaning more pressure on unprotected departments to find cuts.

Other spending commitments so far include ring-fencing the NHS budget, meeting the target to spend 0.7 per cent of GDP on overseas aid, and finding money for £7 billion of tax cuts.

The Prime Minister’s careful wording did not go as far as promising to protect the money in real terms, after inflation. It also left other parts of the £58 billion education budget wide open to Treasury cuts, including post-16 schooling, further education, childcare and child protection. It might also allow raids “by the back door” if, for example, employer National Insurance rises are not funded by the Treasury.

And it was not clear if capital spending on new or refurbished buildings was included in the commitment.

The PM and Education Secretary Nicky Morgan have also announced plans to force new leadership on nearly 3,500 schools in England rated as “requiring improvement”. Some 300 London schools are in this category.

Ms Morgan said that where a school does not have the capacity to improve or a plan to gain a good or outstanding rating “one of the answers is to get new leadership in”.