The Conservatives have slashed funding for education by £7.7billion since 2011, with schools funding falling as a share of national spending. Conservative cuts have led to a lost generation over ten years, with four in five teachers using their own money to support pupils, and three in four headteachers admitting they’ve had to ask parents to prop up inadequate school budgets.
Teachers pay went up under Labour to reflect the importance of giving every child a good education, but under the Conservatives their pay has fallen by over 10% leading to teacher shortages in many subjects.
Locally, schools have cut music, sports, extra-curricular activities, and support for pupils with learning disabilities. Many Croydon North schools have lost over £400 per pupil since 2015. Pupils at Paxton primary school in Thornton Heath were educated in temporary sheds piled up in the back yard of a local club for five years because incompetent Conservative Government ministers refused to make sure the school had a permanent building to move into.
Steve Reed MP has repeatedly challenged Conservative ministers in Parliament over their short-sighted and damaging school funding cuts. As a shadow education minister, Steve is part of Labour’s front-bench team demanding that children’s education should be a priority not a target for Tory cuts.