The new premium on Lib Dem policies

Could it be an accident of timing that the government, in the shape of Sarah Teather, is announcing an expansion of the pupil premium today? Or is it part of a careful response to David Cameron’s adventures in Euroland? In any case, the Lib Dem-devised scheme to help the poorest pupils will be extended in 2012-13, so that both the amount given to each pupil and the number of pupils eligible are increased. What’s not clear yet is whether this was planned all along, or whether it’s because of some previously unforeseen slack in the existing £1.25 billion budget for next year. The pupil premium has, for instance, already been increased for this financial year because fewer children registered for free school meals than expected.

The pupil premium is, along with the plan to raise the income tax threshold to £10,000, one of the flagship Lib Dems policies that are being implemented by the coalition — so you can expect Nick Clegg to make much of it during the wintry months ahead.