In a major policy announcement, he had said: 'I am announcing tough new protection for village schools. When a school closes, the village loses a vital focus. Children spend longer travelling to other schools. Young families will come under pressure to move elsewhere. School closures can have a knock-on effect on other services, like village shops, setting up a spiral of decline. This is what we want to stop.'

Byers said that any proposal to close a rural school would be called before the Secretary of State, a promise on which the government has since reneged.

Steve Sinnott, general-secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: 'If local authorities are thinking of closing a mass of rural schools then they are going against previous commitments.'

He said that in Scotland 'imaginative' policies were being used to prevent closures. Protests from teachers and parents have been successful north of the border, and more recently the Scottish National Party has been supportive of village schools.

Last week there were major protests in Shropshire after the county council announced radical plans to close 22 primary schools and merge 16 more. Mervyn Benford, of the National Association for Small Schools, said yesterday: 'In 1998, the Labour government said it wanted to end school closures. Now, Shropshire, Herefordshire, the Isle of Wight and more want to close between 20 and 35 small village schools each.

'Kent has proposed a minimum desirable school size of 110, Cheshire and Staffordshire have already begun closures, Suffolk and Oxfordshire are about to launch consultations and they have been busy in Lincolnshire. Our nightmare scenario is the closure of more than 1,000 schools. The government said villagers needed their schools and now, suddenly, villagers do not need their schools any more.' In Wales, rural communities are facing similar problems.

MPs blamed the government's funding formula, which, they said, demonstrated a massive and aggressive switch of money from the shire counties to the inner cities. The plans would mean more children facing far longer journeys to school, many along winding country lanes. 'It will have a devastating effect on communities,' said Philip Dunne, Tory MP for Ludlow, who warned that the countryside would become 'a care home for the elderly'. On Wednesday, he and other countryside MPs will meet schools minister Jim Knight. Dunne added that the battle comes on top of the fight to save local post offices.

Shropshire, one of the most sparsely populated areas of the UK, this year received £3,551 per pupil from the government, £337 less than the England average, and half of what the City of London received, according to Owen Paterson, Tory MP for North Shropshire.

The local education authority has blamed falling pupil numbers and hopes to achieve £1.8m savings a year if the proposals are ratified. 'If we do not act now, the standard of education would ultimately fall as funding would be used to supplement empty places,' said Anne Hartley, cabinet member for Children's Services. In neighbouring Herefordshire, the council put plans to close or merge 37 schools on hold last week after huge opposition from parents, but will push ahead later this year. There are fears in the council that failure to act will result in financial penalties.

Barry Sheerman, chairman of the Select Committee for Children, Schools and Families, said he would question Knight about the issue, but added: 'Everyone thinks there should be a village school, and it is an emotive subject. I understand, but we have to remember we are here to provide the best learning experience and education for children.'

A spokeswoman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: 'Decisions on changes to local school provision and organisation are made locally and ministers have no role in the process.' She said there had to be a strong case for the closure of rural schools, but pointed out that primary pupil numbers had fallen by 10 per cent.

But Les Lawrence, of the Local Government Association, accused the government of turning its back on local authorities. 'It is no good ministers making high-flown statements and expecting others to pick up the tab,' he said. 'The government has said that council tax cannot be increased by more than 5 per cent. Local authorities have to make savings somewhere.'