By JASON BEATTIE

Parents of truanting youngsters face having their benefits cut, David Cameron warned yesterday as he pledged to "restore order" in schools.

The PM insisted parents should be held ­accountable for children's behaviour.

He has ordered the Government's social policy review, announced in the wake of last month's riots, to look into whether the parents of children who skip lessons should have their benefits cut.

In a speech focusing on education, Mr Cameron said restoring discipline in schools was not just about giving teachers more powers to deal with unruly pupils, but "is also about what parents do".

RESPECT

He said: "We need parents to have a real stake in the discipline of their ­children. We urgently need to restore order and respect in the classroom and I don't want ideas like this to be off the table."

Speaking at the newly-opened Free School Norwich, Mr Cameron said he wanted to bring "rigour" back into the classroom.

He said schools needed "rigorous subjects, tested in a rigorous way".

The PM also hailed the introduction of the English Baccalaureate, which he said had lifted the proportion of pupils studying history, geography, a language and three sciences at GCSE.

3 DAVID Cameron has pledged extra support for schools in the Tory shires. He said he wanted to turn the spotlight on schools that are "coasting along" in places such as Oxfordshire and Surrey.

He praised the success of academy schools, set up under Labour, such as Burlington Danes Academy and Walworth Academy in inner-city London.

The schools saw more than 70% of pupils get five or more good GCSEs.

He said: "Every school needs to be striving for excellence – and to make that clear we are looking at raising the official standards below which no school can fall."