Brown hints at more cash for education

Gordon Brown gave a clear hint yesterday that education would be given another huge cash injection in next month's Government spending review.

Delivering the Bevan Memorial Lecture at the University of Glamorgan, the Chancellorsaid that investment in schools and universities was needed not just for social justice but also to improve the economy.

"Today, the most important resource of a country is not its raw materials but the talents of the people; because economies that work only for the few will ossify and be left behind, equality of opportunity is an economic necessity," Mr Brown said.

"We said in our manifesto that we would put schools and hospitals first. Matched by Estelle Morris's programme of reform, education will receive the priority it requires to deliver further substantial improvements in our schools, colleges and universities."

Mr Brown said that the Government had raised the share of national income devoted to education in the last parliament and it was committed to do the same again in this one.

"This is not just because education is crucial for social justice but because it is key to improving the productivity of the British economy," he said.

Mr Brown's remarks follow a warning from Peter Mandelson in The Independent yesterday that education should not be ignored in the three-year spending review. Mr Mandelson expressed a fear that education would be squeezed out by the Budget's pledge for an extra £40bn for the NHS.

Of the £10bn "new money" available in the 2003/4 financial year not already earmarked, he said that just £1.4bn is left for defence, transport, crime and education. But Mr Brown's allies suggested that the hike in education's share of the national cake would increase further.