With less than a month until the nation goes to the polls, the election race is being defined by which services parties will cut and when.
In typically bullish style, Ed Balls, the defending Children's Secretary, claims Labour is the party to increase spending for early years, Sure Start, schools and 16 to 19 education and training.
He paints a picture of a choice between "drastic" Tory cuts and Labour investment, saying the Chancellor Alistair Darling is preserving 75 per cent of the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) budget.
"I can say clearly that per pupil funding is rising, it will rise in every school and is rising on average by 2.1 per cent, which is more than inflation. But that does not mean it's not going to be tough." Schools that have falling pupil numbers, for example, will have to find savings "to make the numbers add up".
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