LABOUR’S Shadow Paymaster General has criticised Education Secretary Gillian Keegan for “expecting to be thanked and congratulated” for the crumbling concrete crisis.

Jonathan Ashworth told GB News: “It’s an absolute shambles what’s happening now, isn’t it? Of course, Labour had a big rebuilding schools programme. One of the first things that Conservatives did when they got in 13 years ago…was to cut that school rebuilding programme.

“Now this is really serious. I’ve got a school in my own constituency, a primary school, which actually closed at Easter.

“The younger pupils at the primary school are spread out across I think four or five different sites.”

In a discussion during Breakfast with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster, he continued: “Today, look, when you’ve got roofs at risk of collapse into various schools across the country, pupils are really worried, you’ve got the education secretary expecting to be thanked and congratulated by parents.

“And then of course when you step back, it’s not just the schools, air traffic control was in a shambles last week, our rivers are full of sewage, our hospitals can’t cope with the backlog for treatment.

“Nothing works in this country after 13 years, it really is time for change.”

He added: “Can I just say, perhaps directly…your title is Education Secretary. You’re responsible for schools, parents across the country, teachers who work in schools, and pupils, because some of these pupils are old enough to understand what is going on, want you to fix this and don’t want any more of your saying, ‘oh, nothing to do with me gov’.

“That is, frankly, an abdication of your responsibilities.”