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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has announced his party's plans to overhaul education - but his big speech was interrupted by green protesters.

Sir Keir was midway through an address when a man and a woman from campaign group Green New Deal Rising unfurled a banner, saying: "No more U-turns - green new deal now."

The two students had been invited on stage to stand behind him during the speech, with the group's spokesperson later saying: "[If Labour] is going to use young people as props, [it] should be interested to hear what they have to say."

Politics live: 'Let me finish' - climate protesters interrupt Starmer speech

When he returned to his planned remarks, Sir Keir outlined five areas where he said Labour would introduce changes to education.

They were:

• Boosting child development with a promise that 500,000 more children will hit their early learning targets by 2030 - introducing more health visitors in the community, expanding mental health access for new parents, increasing capacity in the childcare system and raising standards in early education to achieve it
• Giving children more confidence by providing every primary school with new funding - paid for by removing tax breaks on private schools - to invest in speech and language classes to "help our children find their voice"
• Updating the "outdated" curriculum to get children studying a creative arts subject or sport until they are 16 and "cracking the code" on digital skills
• Changing attitudes towards vocational education by providing more access to post-19 training and introducing a "proper" national skills plan, led by a new body called Skills England
• Tackle "the soft bigotry of low expectations" by rewarding teachers committed to careers in the classroom, hiring over 6,5000 more teachers in shortage subjects, and reforming Ofsted so inspections no longer lead to "a single word judgement" but a "whole dashboard".

But while there has been a positive reaction from teachers, questions remain about the funding to pay for it, with the Labour leader promising more detail when the election draws nearer.

'Which side are the Labour Party on?'

The two protesters stood behind Sir Keir for the beginning of his speech, before taking out a banner and beginning to talk over him.

One young activist was heard heckling the Labour leader for watering down his previous commitment to spend £28bn on a green prosperity plan - a U-turn that shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves blamed on rising interest rates and the "damage" the Conservatives have done to the economy.

Another asked Sir Keir: "Which side are the Labour Party on?", to which he replied: "We are on the side of economic growth."

After further demands for "a green new deal right now", and for the leader to "stop making U-turns", the demonstrators were led away from the stage.

Before continuing his planned speech, Sir Keir told the audience: "I think they may have missed the fact that the last mission I launched was on clean power by 2030, which is the single most effective way to get the green future that they and many others want."

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Green New Deal Rising describes itself as "a movement of 16-35-year-olds who are making headlines for disrupting politicians to protest the climate and economic crisis and demand a green new deal" - a policy to see more green jobs and a cleaner economy.

Labour had previously outlined its own plan to invest £28bn to accelerate the shift towards net zero emissions by 2050, creating thousands of green jobs in the process.

But Labour's Ms Reeves revealed last month that the figure would now be a "target", rather than a commitment, as "economic stability, financial stability, always has to come first".

However, she denied accusations of a U-turn, saying the figure for spending would not be "zero".

'Breaking down barriers'

Labour has put forward five "missions" for government - including securing the highest sustained growth in the G7, making Britain a green energy superpower, building an NHS fit for the future and making Britain's streets safe.

But today's focus was on education, with a plan to "break down the barriers to opportunity at every stage".

In his pitch to the public, the Labour leader said: "I don't think I'm being too sentimental to say I grew up surrounded by hope. We took it for granted.

"There was a sense that enterprise, hard work and imagination would be rewarded in Britain, that - even in tough times - this would see us through, and that things would get better for families like ours.

"The question is, do we still believe it? Do you look around our country today and believe - with the certainty you deserve - that Britain will be better for you or your children? Because you should.

"That's something we should be able to trust, all of us. An unwritten contract, a bond of hope between citizen and country; generation and generation.

"So I promise you this. Whatever the obstacles to opportunity, wherever the barriers to hope, my Labour government will tear them down."

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The plans have been welcomed by many in the sector, with artist Damien Hirst among those welcoming the focus on creativity, and entrepreneur Baroness Martha Lane-Fox backing the digital plans.

But the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said "significant additional investment" would be needed to achieve the goals.

Asked by Sky News' political editor Beth Rigby if he would commit to further spending on education ahead of the general election, Sir Keir said: "A Labour government always takes education seriously. It is now possible to compare these last 13 years with the 13 years under a Labour government and you can see the difference.

"Obviously as we get closer to the election, we will set out in even greater detail our funding. But we can't hide from the fact we are going to inherit a really damaged economy after 13 years of failure.

"We also can't hide the fact we are going to inherit public services that are on their knees and on their face after 13 years of neglect and we are going to have to take hard decisions.

"But we will set that out as we go forward, and hold in your mind just what the last Labour government did on education."