Schools out

After 13 years of austerity, after scrapping Labour's school rebuilding scheme as soon as they went into Government in 2010, reducing the need to rebuild 400 schools a year tothe point they have just done four in two years, it should surprise no one that schools are literally falling down.

Buildings in the 1970s, 80s and 90s were part-constructed with Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC), and there have been stark warnings for several years that this needed to be replaced.

The Chancellor in 2019 said how he, Rushi Sunak, was building Britain better by a generational injection of cash for rebuildings, whereas in reality he further slashed plans for rebuilding from 400 a year to 50. And the reality, was as above, just four have been done over the last two years.

A shame then that most schools were closed for the best part of two years because of COVID and so work could have been carried out without impact on classes and helped the building industry survive.

Instead, a questionaire was sent out in the middle of August to those responsible for the school's estate, and then the Minister went on holiday for two weeks.

Over the weekend, it was announced hundreds of schools would have to stay closed while assessments and work carried out, though the exact number and actual location were kept secret.

The MInister, Gillian Keegan went on ITV yesterday to defend herself, then at the end failed Minister 101 by blabbing away at the end of the interview while the mic was still live.

"You know what, you’ve done a fucking good job, because everyone else has sat on their arse and done nothing’? No signs of that, no."

No, because she's done a shit job, and has exposed another Sunak appointed MInister as being not fit for the role. But then she is the FIFTH Education Minister in post in just 365 DAYS. How can this be sustainable.

Today, the message from the Department of Education is: "MOST SCHOOLS UNAFFECTED".

This is not a parody.

This is a poraody Government.

And then there were claims of a recording of Keegan in a meeting saying that the issue should be kept under a lid so they could pass it on to whoever comes next.

Quite.

So, many children will not return to schools this week, and headteachers and Goverors will spend the time trying to souce replacement classrooms while the Chancellor has stated there will be no extra cash for the emergency classrooms whilst also claiming he will spend what it takes to fix the issue.

Again your reminder that policy is hard.

And this Government is thicker than mince.