EDUCATION Secretary Michael Gove has vowed to “continue to invest in school buildings” despite axing Labour’s £55 billion rebuilding programme.
He also said ministers “hope to help people in all those areas who feel disappointed” by the decision to cancel more than 700 school rebuilding projects.
The BSF decision has hit more than 20 school rebuilding projects planned by Kirklees Council – including plans for a new high school serving parts of Huddersfield, and replacing Fartown High School.
Mr Gove’s comments came as shadow education secretary Ed Balls promised to fight the Government’s cuts “all the way”.
Seeking to pile more pressure on Mr Gove, Mr Balls launched a “Save our Schools” campaign and called on parents and teachers to join a Westminster rally later this month.
The Education Secretary is facing a growing backlash from MPs, including Tories, after announcing the end of Labour’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme last week.
Anger deepened after it then emerged that a list of 715 affected projects was strewn with errors, so that many schools thought they had escaped the axe only to learn otherwise later. Mr Gove was forced to apologise to the Commons.
Mr Gove said: “We will of course continue to invest in school buildings and hope to help people in all those areas who feel disappointed now.”
