Tackling inflation more important than school funding, education secretary says

Size of budgets ’irrelevant’ without firm grip on soaring prices, Gillian Keegan argues

Curbing rampant inflation is more important than protecting school budgets, the education secretary says – ahead of expected steep cuts in next week’s ‘budget’.

Gillian Keegan said the level of school funding would be “irrelevant” if the government failed to get a grip on soaring prices, arguing: ‘Everybody is worried about inflation.”

Education is already facing a £3.4bn real-terms cut in funding in the 2023-24 financial year – because inflation is more than 10 per cent, not the forecast 4 per cent when the budget was set.