article: Nick Clegg will today promise the highest education spending of any party with a £5billion flagship offer to undecided voters. At the launch of their manifesto today, the Liberal Democrats will vow to protect the entire education budget in the next parliament ‘from cradle to college’. Unlike Tory and Labour plans, spending would rise per pupil – with an extra 460,000 schoolchildren expected in the next five years – and also in line with inflation from 2018. Scroll down for video . Nick Clegg (left) will today promise the highest education spending of any party with a £5billion flagship offer to undecided voters. His wife Miriam is pictured in Marple, Greater Manchester yesterday . It is understood that Mr Clegg will say this is a deal-breaker in any future coalition talks after May 7, in order to win over ‘centre-ground’ Conservative voters worried about funding cuts for schools. Education is a sore point for many who backed the Lib Dems in 2010 on the promise that the party would scrap tuition fees and then saw them trebled to £9,000 per year. But Mr Clegg will claim the Lib Dems are now ‘the party of education’ and the school funding commitment is firm because it will be on the front page of today’s manifesto of pledges. The tuition fees pledge was not on the front page in 2010, and the Lib Dem leader said those which were, such as increasing the income tax allowance, he had stuck ‘doggedly, religiously’ to. Protecting the education budget in real terms for children aged two to 19, will cost an additional £5billion a year more than the Conservatives plan to spend, and £2.5billion a year more than Labour. It would kick in from 2018-19, after the deficit has been cleared under Lib Dem plans and be funded by the proceeds of economic growth. Mr Clegg will claim the Lib Dems are now ‘the party of education’ and the school funding commitment is firm because it will be on the front page of today’s manifesto of pledges . In a pitch to Tory voters in battleground areas such as the South West, Mr Clegg will say people ‘are right to distrust the Conservatives on education’. ‘Our manifesto has one simple ambition and word at its heart, opportunity’, he said last night. ‘It’s the very old liberal idea that every should be able to live out their life to the full regardless of the circumstances of the circumstances of their birth, of the income of his or her parents or where they come from. ‘Education is the great liberator of people’s potential so we need to make sure we support the education system in the next Parliament. ‘The great challenge is we have more and more young people coming into our education system, so we need to make sure that the money is there to educate every single pupil even as their numbers increase. ‘We are determined to make sure that every child in Britain has a world class education.’ The money would be spent on qualified teachers in every classroom, training more teachers, more classes in small groups or one to one and expanding early years education. Speaking on the campaign trail in Lewes in East Sussex, Mr Clegg said he had noticed voters in seats fought between the Tories and Lib Dems were expressing concern about spending on public services. The Tories have matched Lib Dem plans to offer £8billion a year in extra health spending to meet a request from the head of NHS England. By Jack Doyle, Political Correspondent for the Daily Mail . The Green Party would abolish new road building and increase public spending by a fifth to pay for a vast wish-list of commitments, its manifesto revealed yesterday. Leader Natalie Bennett pledged to raise tens of billions in new taxes, including a wealth tax, a 60p higher rate of income tax and imposing VAT and fuel duty on aviation. Launching the 84-page manifesto in trendy Dalston, East London, she said it amounted to a ‘peaceful political revolution’. Proposed policies include protections for the ‘nomadic lifestyle’, a promise to ‘ensure respect for everyone’, and adopting an approach of ‘defensive defence’ while abolishing the Trident nuclear deterrent. The age of criminal responsibility would be raised from ten to 14, cannabis and other drugs legalised, and there would be an amnesty for illegal immigrants here for three years or more. Leader Natalie Bennett pledged to raise tens of billions in new taxes, including a wealth tax, a 60p higher rate of income tax and imposing VAT and fuel duty on aviation . But questions were raised over whether the hikes in taxes on the richest would raise anything like the billions promised. Even manifesto author Brian Heatley admitted the plans were based on ‘a lot of estimation and judgment’. The proposals would see public spending go up by £177billion a year by the end of the Parliament. A new tax would charge anyone with £3million 2 per cent of their wealth, and top earners would pay 60p in the pound. Corporation tax would go up to 30 per cent from 20 per cent, the fuel duty escalator would be restored and capital gains tax allowances abolished. The party promises to scrap the £15billion major roads spending programme, bring in a ‘Citizen’s Pension’ of £180 a week for single OAPs and £310 for a couple, and hugely increase spending on health, social care and social housing. Foreign aid spending would rise by another £6billion a year, child benefit would double, tuition fees would be abolished and pupils would get organic school dinners. Other policies include a promise to end the use of nuclear and coal power stations and ban fracking. Railways would be renationalised, there would be a ban on fur imports, and cages for rabbits and hens in farming would be outlawed.
highlights: Nick Clegg vows to protect entire education budget 'from cradle to college'
  Spending would rise per pupil and also in line with inflation from 2018 .
  Mr Clegg will claim the Liberal Democrats are now ‘the party of education’
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