What will the right-wing papers make of Nick Clegg's new "fairness premium"?

By Paul Goodman

Nick Clegg trailed his proposed £7 billion "fairness premium" on Today earlier.  We now have more details, as follows -

"I can announce today that in the Spending Review we will provide extra funds – a total of over £7 billion – for a “fairness premium”, stretching from the age of two to the age of twenty: from a child’s first shoes to a young adult’s first suit. This is more than £7 billion spent on giving the poorest children a better start in life.

First, all disadvantaged two year olds will have an entitlement to 15 hours a week of pre-school education, in addition to the 15 hours already available to them at three and four years of age. By offering more help at an earlier age to the most disadvantaged children, we will directly tackle the gaps in attainment that open up in the critical early years of life.

Second, a Pupil Premium to help poorer pupils wherever they live in the country. Schools will receive additional funds to offer targeted help to every pupil eligible for free school meals and reduce educational inequalities.

Third, we must make sure that bright but poor children grow up believing that a university education is not out of reach. So we are looking now at what can be done to remove the obstacles to aspiration that hold back bright boys and girls from deprived backgrounds. Their passage must not be blocked.  Alongside new reforms to Higher Education, we are proposing to provide a form of student premium for the least advantaged students.

The spending review is a difficult process. As a government, and as individual ministers, we need to be able to look ourselves in the mirror and know we did the right thing, even when – especially when – it is a hard thing."

Four quick points -

• Clegg's vehicle of choice for the release of these details was Liberal Democrat Voice.  In other words, the announcement's a pitch to his base after its tuition fees trauma this week (which Mark Pack recognises in his report).
• The Liberal Democrat base can't help but like it - after all, if the scheme is as reported, £7 billion is a huge chunk of public money - but what will the Mail and Telegraph say?  Many of their readers are to lose child benefit, and many of their readers children are to pay higher tuition fees.  By and large, their readers won't get the pupil premium or the new student premium.  Here's more ammunition for the universalism v targetting row (particularly since this new spend seems to be roughly seven times the value of the child benefit saving).
• The tug of war between the Conservative right-and-centre and the Liberal Democrats continues.  It's Wednesday, and pow!  Market proposals win out in the student finance policy mix.  It's Friday, and wham!  A new £7 billion fund is aimed fairly and squarely at Liberal Democrat sensibilities.  Matters are more complicated, since some Conservatives will welcome the new fund and dislike the tuition fees hike, but there's a lot in it.  Will the Liberal Democrats win out (see Montgomerie's Law of the Coalition) or will the two forces fight each other to a standstill (see Goodman's Coalition Dilemma)?
• The golden rule of sudden spending announcements applies - namely, it'll be worth studying the small print closely.