I tuned in to the Chancellor’s budget earlier this month desperately hoping for good news.

As a parent of a child attending our local primary in Farnham, I hoped to hear more money would be injected into state schools.

But I listened in vain. Our children’s education, it seems, is not on this government’s list of priorities.

Yet, recent work by parents and educational organisations has revealed just how much money schools in our community have lost out on since the Tory and Lib-Dems started their damaging austerity policy in 2010.

In fact, of the 35 or so schools in Farnham and Bordon constituency, 30 have less funding now in real terms than they did 14 years ago. In total our schools have suffered from £6.5 million of real terms cuts, with an average cut in Farnham and Bordon of £422 per pupil.

Worst-affected in Surrey is Highfield South Farnham School, with a cut of £777,268 or £1,864 per student since 2011. In Hampshire the picture is equally bleak with The Holme Church of England Primary School in Headley losing £204,342 or £1,129 per pupil.

It was galling to then hear the Conservative Education Minister suggest funding for schools was at an all-time high. This outrageous claim was quickly debunked by BBC Radio Four’s More or less show. Their guest expert from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) not only disproved the assertion, they knocked it completely out of the playground.

Spending on sixth formers’ education is down 25 per cent since 2010. Investment in school buildings and other capital expenditure is also down 25 per cent. New responsibilities, such as well-being and mental health, have been heaped onto schools without additional funds. And so, the litany of corrections went on.

In fact, according to the IFS, education funding in England has increased every year since 1945, except for the last 14 years of Conservative and Lib-Dem austerity.

This is not just a tragedy for our children, it is also a serious threat to the country’s long-term economic growth and prosperity. We need a better educated population to succeed on the global stage and we cannot do that without investing in our children.

And, frankly, it's equally disturbing that Tory politicians, including the education minister, can simply invent statistics to suit themselves. It needs a well-educated population to call them out. Perhaps that’s what the Tories don’t like about education.

Alex Just

Labour parliamentary candidate for Farnham and Bordon