PROTESTERS outside Huddersfield Town Hall urged: Scrap the schools deal with Jarvis.

Trades union members joined the picket line as a meeting of Kirklees Council was held.

They want councillors to pull out of a 25-year agreement for private sector company Jarvis to maintain 20 schools.

Bob Stoker, secretary of Huddersfield TUC, said: "The council should have the courage of its convictions and say no more."

Debt-ridden Jarvis has already had the plug pulled by the council on a £175m contract to build four special schools. Mike Forster, of the Unison union, said: "The PFI experiment has been a farce."