Stroud Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrats publish The Gove Files

As the Prime Minister launches the Conservatives' education plans, the Liberal Democrats have lifted the lid on a five-year battle to protect and improve education.

The Liberal Democrats have published The Gove Files, a 13 page dossier showing how the party has fought Michael Gove's ideological agenda inside the department.

The documents shows how Liberal Democrats have:

• Blocked Gove's plan to run schools for profit
• Blocked Gove's plan for the return of O-Levels and a two-tier education system
• Ensured the Pupil Premium was properly funded and introduced free school meals for infants, despite Gove's opposition

In this Parliament, Liberal Democrats ensured the schools budget was protected in real terms but the Conservatives are refusing to rule out drastic cuts if they win a majority. This means the education budget could be slashed by a quarter by 2020.

Liberal Democrats have committed to protecting the schools budget from cradle to college in the next Parliament.

As a party that believes fundamentally in spreading opportunity to everyone, no matter what your background, Liberal Democrats in government have prioritised education.

We have successfully fought to raise standards by protecting school budgets, expanding early years education and introducing a pupil premium to get more money to the children who need extra help.

But we have also spent much of the last five years engaged in a behind-the-scenes battle over education with Michael Gove and the Conservatives' ideological agenda.

However, the fight is far from over.

Conservative scorched earth plans for much deeper cuts than necessary in the next parliament mean that funding for nurseries, schools and colleges could be slashed by a quarter by 2020.

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