Shropshire's excellent local village primary schools learnt one thing this weekend which just might give worried parents, staff, governors a shred of comfort: we are not alone.

Other education authorities in rural areas also face falling school rolls compounded by poor Government funding for their pupils.

We knew this was leading to threats to close schools in neighbouring Herefordshire, but now The National Association of Small Schools has pointed out this is happening up and down the country: from the Isle of Wight to Lincolnshire, from Kent to other neighbouring counties Cheshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire.

This in the face of a pledge by then Education Minister Stephen Byers MP 10 years ago to introduce "tough new protection for village schools". He proposed each school closure would require approval by the Secretary of State. But being more spin than substance, the Labour government never put it into place.

So on Wednesday I shall be asking current Schools Minister Jim Knight MP what has changed. Does the Government still believe it right to protect village schools with good academic performance, offering parents choice and communities a reason for young families to stay?

I shall be leading a cross-party delegation from Shropshire, with fellow MPs and County Councillors and education officers, to urge him to increase the allocation of funding per pupil for Shropshire by £50 per pupil. This is all that is needed to stave of the closures here.

If he refuses he faces the political epitaph as the Minister who presided over the largest school closure programme in England in recent memory.

Wake up Minister before it is too late for our schools.