OXFORD West and Abingdon MP Layla Moran will use her maiden speech in the Commons to challenge the Government over fair funding for schools in Oxfordshire.

According to teaching unions there could be a £29m decrease in funding for Oxfordshire schools, based on a new formula, which the Government plans to introduce from 2018/19.

In the Queen’s Speech Theresa May said she would press ahead with changes to how budgets are allocated to individual schools, through a new National Funding Formula.

Ms Moran, who regained the seat for the Liberal Democrats when she defeated Conservative Nicola Blackwood in the general election on June 8, is expecting to make her maiden speech this afternoon.

As the Liberal Democrat spokeswoman on education she will be taking part in the Commons debate on education and local services.

Ms Moran, a governor at Botley Primary School, has been supporting the Fair Funding for All Schools campaign in Oxfordshire, which is backed by the National Union of Teachers.

She said: “Parents at schools like Carswell Primary in Abingdon have picked this issue up and run with it and I want to raise the matter in my maiden speech.

“This issue was addressed in a single sentence in the Queen’s Speech and I will be pushing for greater clarity on the details.

“If the Government puts £4bn into schools but also carries out changes to a national funding formula that amounts to a cut.

“Investing in our youngest is never a bad investment - that is not the place to penny pinch.”

Ms Moran added that schools in the county facing funding cuts could have to cut some subjects from the curriculum and increase class sizes.

She said: “Some creative subjects could fall by the wayside - decisions taken now could affect pupils for years to come.”

Among schools prominent in campaigning is Carswell Primary School in Abingdon.

Ms Moran said she also intended to speak about cuts to children’s centres in the county.

In April Iain Littlejohn, chairman of governors at Larkmead School in Abingdon, quit the Conservative Party over the issue of school funding.

His 13-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter are pupils at the school.

Mr Littlejohn said he was pleased Ms Moran, a former physics teacher, was highlighting the schools funding issue.

He added: “Under current proposals Larkmead will face real-term cuts due to increasing costs.

“I’m very encouraged that Layla Moran is raising the issue of fair funding in her maiden speech.

“As a former physics teacher and school governor she has a very good understanding of the issues on the ground and we are in the process of arranging a meeting with her.”

Helen Brockett, a parent at Carswell Primary School, and a spokeswoman for Fair Funding for All Schools in Oxfordshire, was unavailable for comment yesterday.