KENT MPs have given a predictably mixed reaction to the Chancellor’s budget which many predict set the scene for an early election next Spring. But there was a broad welcome to the news of a further investment in schools.

Direct extra funding going to schools would equate to an additional £55,000 for a typical primary and £180,000 for a typical secondary next year.

The Government also committed itself to providing the cash to ensure every secondary school would be refurbished or rebuilt by 2015.

Chatham and Aylesford Labour MP Jonathan Shaw said: “The extra investment will take us to the top of the table for education spending of all the G7 countries. Spending per pupil will be double what it was in 1997 by 2007.”

He also welcomed moves to increase the supply of affordable housing, following the publication of the Barker report. That concluded an extra 140,000 homes a year would be needed to meet current demand.

The shortage of affordable homes in Kent and the south east has been identified as a barrier to so-called key workers moving to the region.

“If people are unable to get a foot on the housing ladder, it does have an impact on everything else,” he said.

Faversham and Mid Kent MP Hugh Robertson (Con) said taxpayers would ultimately pay the price for the Government’s largesse.

“This was a pre-election buget with promises of considerable extra spending right across the board. At some point – probably after the next election – people will have to start paying for it.

"Nobody should be in any doubt that taxes will rise after the election,” he said.

The extra £100 for pensioners, a response to complaints over high council tax bills, could misfire, he warned.

“It would be far better for council tax bills to be kept low. If local authorities know that pensioners are getting extra money, it is almost an invitation to councils to spend up to those levels.”

Conservative leader and Kent MP Michael Howard was dismissive. In the House of Commons, he told MPs: “This is a credit card budget from the credit card chancellor - a borrow now tax later budget from the borrow now tax later Chancellor.”

He said public borrowing was forecast to reach £37.5bn and "the country will pay for it later in Labour's third term tax rises".

The budget is “good news for children, families and pensioners in South Thanet,” says Labour MP Stephen Ladyman.

He said it meant more money for each of the 36 schools in his constituency and gave pensioners aged 70 and over £100 to help with their council tax bills.

Dr Ladyman said: “This budget demonstrates that education is Labour’s number one priority. Education funding is set to increase by £8.5 billion.

“In 1997 we spent £2,500 per pupil and today we spend £4,500. As a result of the extra investment by Gordon Brown, by 2008 we will spend £1,000 more - a total of £5,500 for each and every school pupil in Britain.

“The Chancellor also announced funds to renovate every secondary school in South Thanet over the next ten years.

“We can only go ahead with these decisions because for the first time we have managed to avoid the global recession that has affected every other major economy.

“Inflation is at its lowest for 30 years, mortgage rates are their lowest for 30 years and latest figures show that employment has increased by 1.8 million with unemployment falling by 51% in South Thanet since 1997.

“What a contrast with the Tory years when interest rates soared to 15 per cent and there were three million unemployed. The Tories are committed to cutting £18 billion from public services - that would mean cutting £27 million here in South Thanet.

“This budget shows we are delivering on the promises I made in South Thanet.

"More jobs and improved skills, better schools and hospitals, more help for families and more help for pensioners - that’s what local people voted for, and that’s what we are delivering.”