Boris Johnson has made increasing school funding a key pledge in his first speech in Downing Street as prime minister.

During the campaign for the Conservative Party leadership, the former foreign secretary promised to increase school funding by £4.6 billion by 2022-23.

This afternoon, he used his first address on the steps of Number 10 to highlight school funding as a key priority.

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He said: “My job is to make sure your kids get a superb education wherever they are in the country.

“And that’s why we have already announced that we are going to level up per-pupil funding in primary and secondary schools.”

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, called for “real money for real pupils in real schools”.

He said: “During his campaign Boris Johnson announced £4.6 billion by 2022-23, an £8 billion shortfall in what is needed.

“Most alarmingly, there is no mention of the crisis in special needs education in his school funding plan and there is no mention of the pensions black hole that will add £1.5 billion to school costs.

“These are terrible and damaging oversights.

“It is vital that Boris Johnson looks again at his proposals and takes heed of our broad coalition’s comprehensive analysis.

“It is clear he and his party still do not fully understand the scale of the crisis facing schools. The needs of schools will grow significantly by 2022-23 because of the large rise in pupil numbers and higher school costs.

“Unfortunately, the sums he is proposing are not sufficient to cope with this - so, as he said himself, it’s time to end the leadership campaign slogans and begin the real hard work.”