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Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has unveiled a £7bn 'fairness premium'to help disadvantaged children through the education system.
The plan, to be included in the comprehensive spending review, will contain an offer of 15 free hours of pre-school education a week to two year olds from poorer families in England.
In a speech at a junior school in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Clegg also confirmed the Lib Dem pledge of a "pupil premium” while they are at schools, and a new "student premium" to help them through university.
The Liberal Democrat leader has been under pressure to show that he is fulfilling his general election manifesto commitment on the pupil premium, amid anger from some party MPs over a potential increase in tuition fees.
Clegg said: "The decisions we take to tackle the UK’s deficit will be a test of the government's character. And they will shape this country's future.
"I am clear that we have a moral obligation to wipe the slate clean. We must shelter the next generation from the legacy of debt - and especially the most disadvantaged children."
The deputy prime minister said that the "fairness premium" of more than £7bn will deliver support for the most disadvantaged of young people "from the age of two to the age of 20 – from a child's first shoes to a young adult's first suit".
The funding will have a "transformative" effect on the lives of children and their families, ensuring no child is left behind in the classroom.
And for those in danger of going off the rails will be caught before it is too late.
The funding is expected to support children from the 20 per cent poorest of families who are entitled to free school meals.
Disadvantaged two-year olds will be entitled to 15 hours a week of free nursery education, in addition to the 15 hours already available at three and four years of age.
The deputy prime minister said that while the spending review will lead to cuts, it will also "increase our investments in fairness, and in particular in the promotion of social mobility and life chances.
"It will be an investment package for future fairness."
Speaking to the Today programme this morning, the deputy prime minister expressed regret that the government was going to have to raise university tuition fees, despite the Lib Dem manifesto pledge.
He said: "We have to deal with this because if we don't we are simply blighting the life chances of future generations.
"That is why these difficult decisions on university education, and these very progressive decisions on targeting help on children when they are younger when it really makes a difference to their subsequent life chances, is so important to me."
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