INDEPENDENT Labour peer Lord Stoddart yesterday waded in to the row over pro-EU propaganda in schools calling the cartoons “sinister” and designed to “indoctrinate our children.”

The EU spends up to half a billion pounds on self-promotion every year, including comic strips designed for schools, it was reported last week.

But Lord Stoddart reminded the teaching profession of its legal obligations under sections 406 and 407 of the Education Act, which charges schools to provide balance in the presentation of political issues.

He said: “The coming referendum is the most important issue of our time.

“Flooding educational establishments with sinister pro-EU comic books designed to indoctrinate our children and ignore the very strong arguments for leaving the EU is simply not acceptable.

“It puts teachers in conflict with the law and highlights the government’s failure to take this issue seriously.”