Miliband blasts Booktrust funding cut
By politics.co.uk staff
Ed Miliband has lambasted the government for its decision to remove all funding for Booktrust, a charity which provides free books to children to encourage literacy.
Booktrust currently receives £13 million through the Department for Education. It runs a series of programmes targeted at infants, children starting primary school and eleven-year olds.
All of that funding will be cut from April 1st, in a decision the charity called “strange” and “short-sighted”.
The Labour leader said: “This Conservative-led government knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
“The abolition of Bookstart will deprive children of an early opportunity to discover the joy of reading.”
Mr Miliband also passed judgment on Liberal Democrat ministers for supporting the move, adding: “They may have convictions but they do not have the courage of them.”
The government has claimed decisions to cut schemes such as these are necessary for the deficit reduction programme, pointing out that the free books go even to those who can comfortably afford them.
But a statement on the charity’s website read: “We are immensely surprised and disappointed by this decision and know that families, teachers, librarians, health visitors, our publishing partners and many others up and down the country will be sharing these feelings.
“We passionately believe in these programmes and the proven extraordinary transformative power of reading for pleasure.”
Booktrust is now seeking other sources of funding, insisting that the benefits from promoting literacy more than justified the limited expenditure.
