Nick Clegg outlines "non-negotiable" education funding plan
The Liberal Democrats have revealed their first ever 'red line' – a rise in education funding from £49bn to £55.3bn over the next parliament.
Party leader Nick Clegg called the figure 'non-negotiable', the first condition outlined by the party regarding a prospective coalition with Labour or the Conservatives.
The party would spend £2.5bn more than Labour and £5bn more than the Conservatives between 2015 and 2020 on education, aiming to bolster infrastructure from “cradle to college”.
Clegg stipulated that he would "not accept under any circumstances the cuts to nurseries, to schools and to colleges that both Conservatives and now Labour have announced".
"And if we don't get that we wouldn't enter into a coalition in the first place," he added.
The comment is significant given the party's fraught relationship with education policy. Under the coalition, the Liberal Democrats' plan to abolish tuition fees was replaced with a Conservative-led tripling of fees.
The Liberal Democrats have admitted that they need to find £12bn in extra savings to follow through with their manifesto's pledges.
While they are yet to reveal exactly where these cuts would come from, analysts suspect that defence and the Home Office could face the brunt of them.