Councils are to be given powers to stop funding early-years providers with links to extremism, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has announced. The move, in England, follows a letter-writing campaign by the British Humanist Association. Members wrote to MPs and responded to a nursery funding consultation, raising concerns about extremist links and creationist teaching in some nurseries. The Department for Education said the change closes ‘a technical loophole’. Mrs Morgan said that toddlers must learn ‘fundamental British values’ and that schools and nurseries that do not ‘support this aim’ should not receive public money. The move comes after allegations that hardline Islamists tried to take over some Birmingham schools in what was dubbed the Trojan Horse plot. Announcing the measures, Mrs Morgan, who replaced Michael Gove as education secretary in last month's Cabinet reshuffle, said there is no place for extremism ‘anywhere in the education system’.