A Conservative government would force children up to the age of 16 to be given compulsory history lessons.

In a speech today Tim Collins, the shadow education secretary, will say the low level of historical knowledge among young Britons is a "farce" and an "outright scandal".

"Nothing is more important to the survival of the British nation than an understanding among its young of our shared heritage and the nature of the struggles, foreign and domestic, which have secured our freedoms," he will tell the National Catholic Heads conference.

"A nation which loses sight of its past cannot long expect to enjoy its future."