Michael Gove attacked for 'political' school funding

Education Secretary Michael Gove reignited a row over funding for school building projects today.

Speaking to students as he opened new buildings at the Globe Academy in Southwark, Mr Gove said: "The decision to invest in these buildings reflects the belief that all of you here can achieve fantastic things."

Quoting Winston Churchill, Mr Gove said: "We shape buildings and then they shape us." He added: "They give us the space to achieve more."

Yesterday education minister Sarah Teather was accused of lobbying her boss for two schools in her Brent constituency to be spared from cuts which will scrap funding for hundreds of building projects which would have transformed thousands of crumbling classrooms across the country.

After a meeting with Mr Gove it was announced that funding for turning two comprehensives into academies would go ahead. But four other school projects in Brent were still cancelled.

Shadow education secretary Ed Balls said schools in Labour constituencies had been badly hit. Barry Gardiner, Labour MP for Brent North, said he was unable to arrange a meeting with Mr Gove.

He said: "Decisions about which projects get the go-ahead should be purely on educational, not political grounds."

The Department for Education said: "The decision on which academies would get their capital allocations on August 6 and which would get their allocations after the spending review was entirely based on how close they were to starting building work. The secretary of state and ministers met dozens of MPs and councillors of all parties before any decisions were made and also spoke to the majority of sponsors."