The Conservatives will pledge today to loan poor parents money to set up their own schools as a substitute for being barred from the private sector.

Tim Collins, the shadow education secretary, said that the funds would allow groups of parents or charities to overcome the prohibitive cost of setting up new schools.

"I went to a public school, but my parents did not have to pay for it," he said. "It is the kind of thing I hope will become available to many more parents."