SCHOOLS will face a wave of strikes if the new government fails to plug the funding gap, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) warned yesterday.

The stark consequences of Tory “flat cash” funding proposals and an end to a national insurance exemption enjoyed by schools were the subject of a motion at the NUT’s national conference.

But the union rejected a third attempt by a section of its membership to secure a commitment to an “ongoing calendar of national strike action” starting in the autumn, albeit by a more narrow majority.