Crime and schools take centre-stage
By Ian Dunt
The Tories and Liberal Democrats will lay out their education agenda today while Labour concentrates on crime.
The renewed week of campaigning comes a day after David Cameron’s speech to the Tory party spring conference, which was well received by activists but took place against the backdrop of increasingly dire polling results for the Tories.
A YouGov poll for the Sunday Times put the Tories just two points ahead of Labour, prompting many Conservative officials to cite the possibility of Gordon Brown retaining the keys to Number Ten as an incentive to those still unsure of how to vote.
The Tories will set out their stall on city academies today, with a promise they will push ahead with the programme once in government.
Tories power ahead with academies programme
Mr Cameron has long said he will roll out the academies programme quicker and more thoroughly than Mr Brown will.
Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg will deliver a speech hosted by the Salvation Army on creating a fairer society by transforming the education system this morning.
Clegg’s pledges school equality
Meanwhile, think tank demos called for an end to school exclusions today, a policy unlikly to be takne up by the Conservatives who have pledged to make it easier to expel disruptive pupils.
Scrap school exclusions, thinktank demands
Mr Brown will focus on crime today by urging local authorities to protect police funding from any future spending cuts.
