Teachers threaten strike over £200m school funding cuts

Teachers are threatening to strike over plans to cut £200m from school and college budgets amid claims it will "ration" teenagers' opportunities - reports the Daily Telegraph.

They will ballot for industrial action at sixth-forms where staff face redundancies to plug the funding black hole.

The National Union of Teachers branded the cuts "an absolute disgrace" and said Labour risked leaving many young people on the "scrap heap".

It marks a significant escalation of the row over an eleventh-hour drop in funding for institutions across England, putting courses for as many as 50,000 teenagers under threat.

Last week, head teachers warned they could sue the Government's Learning and Skills Council over the episode.

Meanwhile the European Union continues to enjoy its net £6bn a year (or £115m a week) funding deal, agreed in 2005 before the economic crisis erupted.

The Government is facing the need to make major cuts in public spending to compensate for money spent on supporting banks and the economy, but has so far refused to re-open debate on the scale of cash Britain hands to the EU.

This is despite the fact that, back in November, the accuracy of the EU's accounts was seriously criticised by auditors for the 14th year in a row, with billion of pounds of EU spending once again unaccounted for.