In our society, 6 in 10 peoples' earnings are directly affected by their father's profession. As far as I can see, the Lib Dems are the only party putting their money where their mouth is on improving Education, stopping disadvantage before it starts.

Social mobility and equality have taken serious hits over the last few years. You would think a Labour government would be on the ball about this sort of thing, but in January 2010, nearly thirteen years into his Government, Gordon Brown said that a National Equality Panel report was "Sobering." This is not acceptable from the government who promised us "Education, Education, Education", but gave us "Tuition Fees, Iraq, Social Stagnation." For me, Gordon Brown blaming the rising levels of inequality on Thatcher, after 13 years in government, is disingenuous buck passing.

The Lib Dems want to combat disadvantage through real investment in education, a child poverty reduction strategy not nearly matched by either of the other two parties financially. An extra £2.5 billion would be put into primary education, which we call the Pupil Premium, to cut class sizes, and offer children who fall behind individual catch-up tuition to stop disadvantage before it starts. This policy is funded by taking high earners out of the tax credit system, and cutting wasteful programmes at the Schools Directorate. The Lib Dems would also abolish university tuition fees, although the high cost of this policy means that it must be applied gradually over 6 years, so that it would come into effect fully after we are out of recession.

I think the Pupil Premium is the core of what would be a really effective strategy for levelling the playing field, and our opposition to tuition fees remains a key factor in our education policy. I want to see a society in which there is no significant statistical link between the school you attended and whether or not you went to uni, whether or not you earn minimum wage, whether or not you are long-term unemployed, and only the Lib Dems are putting effective measures at the heart of their strategy on this vital issue.

The Lib Dems are the only party willing to give British Children an equal chance at succeeding in life no matter what their background; and we back up our words with serious investment, unlike the red-blue blue-red consensus.