Tory leadership contest: Philip Hammond may block Boris Johnson’s school funding plan Boris Johnson promised to correct the ‘yawning funding gap’ between pupils in London and the rest of UK by giving each pupil £5,000

Boris Johnson faces being blocked from implementing one of his key policy pledges before he even enters office due to an ongoing row between the Treasury and the Department for Education, i can reveal.

The front runner in the Tory leadership race has promised to correct the “yawning funding gap” between pupils in London and the rest of the country, making it one of his first commitments when he officially declared to run for leader.

‘Yawning funding gap’

But a disagreement over school spending between Chancellor Philip Hammond and Education Secretary Damian Hinds this week casts significant doubt on Mr Johnson’s ability to “level up” funding for the poorest-funded schools.

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The former foreign secretary said earlier this month that it was “simply not sustainable that funding per pupil should be £6,800 in parts of London and £4,200 in some other parts of the country”.

As such he would ensure every pupil received a minimum of £5,000 in a bid to raise standards in schools.

No-deal Brexit strategy

But during a meeting on Tuesday, the Treasury suggested delaying the National Funding Formula, which will abolish the unfair allocations of cash to schools because it needed to protect contingency funds for a no-deal Brexit.

A Cabinet source told i: “Schools need to know what their funding allocations will be next year, and if the funding levels are to be equalled out a decision on money needs to be made next month. But the Chancellor has other things on his mind, such as a no-deal Brexit and he cannot commit to anything else.”

The issue was a key battleground in the last general election and partially responsible in Theresa May failing to secure a majority.

Hammond speaks out

In what is believed to be his final Mansion House speech, Mr Hammond said money would be there for the next prime minister but only if the UK leaves the EU in a “smooth and orderly way”.

“But there are two caveats: first, we only have those choices if we avoid a damaging no-deal Brexit, which would cause short-term disruption to our economy, soaking up all the fiscal headroom we have built, and more,” he said.

“And while fiscal and monetary policy interventions could help to smooth our path to a post-no-deal Brexit economy, both could only

be temporary and neither could prevent the economy being permanently smaller.

“So, there is a choice: either we leave with no deal or we preserve our future fiscal space – we cannot do both.”