Starmer savages Tory 'cowboys' over RAAC crisis and blasts £34m office refurb

06 September 2023 , 11:32

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Keir Starmer blasted the Government, saying the nation is being run by 'cowboys'

Rishi Sunak's top team have been branded "cowboys" as Keir Starmer savaged the Tories over the RAAC scandal.

In a fiery exchange at PMQs the Labour leader fumed that crucial work on schools recommended way back in 2010 had yet to be carried out. And he voiced his fury after Education Secretary Gillian Keegan splashed £34million on her department's Westminster offices as schools deteriorated.

Mr Starmer delivered a brutal dig over Ms Keegan's whine that the Government wasn't being credited with doing a "f***** good job". He reeled off a list of schools on Labour's schools building list when it was last in Government - which are now crumbling. The opposition leader told MPs: "It's the sort of thing you expect from cowboy builders., saying everyone else is wrong, everyone else is to blame, saying they've done an effing good job." And he continued: "In this case the cowboys are running the country."

He said parents would be furious after Ms Keegan signed off on £34million to refurbish her department's Westminster school in spite of the desperate work needed to repair schools. Mr Starmer said: "Can he explain to parents whose children aren't at school this week, why he thinks a blank cheque for a Tory minister's offices is a better use of money than stopping schools collapsing?"

Rishi Sunak was asked to justify splashing millions on the Department for Education HQ

He named Wood Green Academy in Sandwell, Carmel College in Darlington and Ferryhill School as having been identified by Labour as being in need of repair way back in 2010.

Schools boss Gillian Keegan says she's doing 'f***ing good job' in hot mic gaffe

The floundering Prime Minister struggled for answers as he faced a barrage of questions about the scandal, which saw more than 100 schools ordered to close or partially close due to Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC). Mr Sunak said: "I know how concerned parents, children and teachers are, and I want to start by assuring them that the Government is doing everything it can to fix this quickly and minimise the disruption to children's education.

"We make no apology for acting decisively in the face of new information... Of the 22,000 schools in England the vast, vast majority won't be affected. In fact, in two-thirds of inspections of suspected schools, Raac is not actually present."

The Labour leader pointed out that the Government has known about the dangers of RAAC for years, but accused them of failing to do anything about it. He told the Commons: "The roof of Singlewell Primary School in Gravesend collapsed in May 2018. Thankfully it happened at the weekend and no children were injured.

"The concrete ceiling was deemed dangerous and liable to collapse, and everyone knew the problem existed in other schools. Yet the Prime Minister decided to halve the budget for school maintenance just a couple of years later."

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has come under fire this week (PRU/AFP via Getty Images)

Mr Sunak wrongly accused his opponent of overlooking the issue, incorrectly claiming that crumbling schools weren't mentioned in a key speech about education in July.

Mr Sunak replied: "This is exactly the kind of political opportunism that we've come to expect from Captain Hindsight over here. Before today he's never once raised this issue with me across this despatch box. It wasn't even worthy of a single mention in his so-called landmark speech on education this summer. And if we'd listened to him, our kids would have been off school and locked down for longer."

In reality Mr Starmer did mention crumbling schools, when he said: "So for his Tory Party to turn around afterwards and repay their sacrifice with nothing, to sit there twiddling their thumbs as teachers leave in their droves, school buildings start to crumble and absenteeism goes through the roof - that's shameful."

Moments before the exchange, the Government released a full list of 156 schools affected by RAAC after days of pressure., Fears over crumbling concrete forced the Government to announce more than 100 schools would have to shut or close off parts of their buildings last week. Up to this point ministers have steadfastly refused to release a full list, saying parents should be told before reading about it in the media.

Earlier a number of school chiefs this morning urged to return surveys about crumbling concrete have raised concerns about the "accuracy" of the Government's records. Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the Department for Education (DfE) should review its systems to see whether some of the supposedly non-returned RAAC survey forms were returned "but have not been recorded as such due to a technical error".

He said: "We've now received six messages directly from trust and school leaders raising concerns about the accuracy of the Department for Education's records and have heard similar reports from other sources. All tell us that they returned their Raac surveys many months ago but on Monday night they received a letter from education minister Baroness Barran effectively threatening to name and shame them if they did not complete the survey by Friday September 8."

Kids cowering in crumbling RAAC schools 'define 13 years of Tory rule'

Mr Baron added: "We would urge the Department for Education to review its systems to see whether at least some of these supposedly non-returned survey forms - and possibly a great many - were in fact returned but have not been recorded as such due to a technical error. We would also urge ministers to be very careful about pointing the finger of blame."

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Dave Burke