Infrastructure, OH&SLONDON – The British government has been accused of “cutting corners” as it published Wednesday a list of 147 schools in England that are potentially at risk of collapse from crumbling concrete.
Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, likened the government to “cowboys running the country” during a rowdy first Prime Minister’s Questions session following the summer break. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose Conservative Party is trailing Labour badly in opinion polls ahead of an expected general election next year, insisted that the government has acted “decisively” and that the “vast, vast majority” of schools are not affected by the problem.
School leaders have been scrambling to find classroom space in nearby establishments or resorting to online instruction after the government’s last-minute directive, sparked when three schools thought to be safe suffered collapses over the summer.