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Tory cuts have left schools forced to teach kids in crumbling classrooms as £1.7bn of repairs are being ignored or postponed, according to new research.

Conservative budget cuts mean school repairs have been abandoned across England.

Headteachers are being forced to use money that should be dedicated for books, teachers and equipment to fix leaking roofs and crumbling buildings.

Responses from 43 councils to Freedom of Information requests show that more than 3,300 primary schools have had requests for a total of over £500m of funding ignored or postponed.

This suggests over £1.7 billion of repairs have been requested and ignored, if extrapolated across England, as a result of Tory cuts to education budgets.

(Image: Getty)

The Lib Dems , who carried out the research, said it was a “disgrace” that “children are being taught in crumbling buildings”.

It comes as the Lib Dems reveal they would invest £17bn into a ‘Schools and NHS Infrastructure Fund’ to repair and restore schools and hospitals across England.

Schools are being forced to shell out £1.2bn of ‘revenue spending’, which should be used for teachers, books and equipment, for urgent repairs because of Tory cuts.

The Lib Dems argue the new fund would give an extra £7bn for schools in England, enough to repair every school to allow them to focus spending on education rather than maintenance.

(Image: Getty)

Another £10bn would be allocated to hospitals over the lifetime of the next parliament, helping address a £5bn delayed backlog in delayed repairs to NHS buildings and infrastructure.

This would contrast with the £350m for the Conservatives committed to repairs in the NHS in 2015-2016.

The infrastructure fund would be in addition to the extra £7bn the Liberal Democrats have committed to invest in schools over the next parliament, and the £6bn more a year the party would invest in NHS and social care which they would raise by putting 1p on income tax.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Education Secretary Sarah Olney said: “Under Theresa May’s Conservatives, our children are being taught in crumbling schools and our sick and elderly are being cared for in overcrowded hospitals.

“It doesn’t have to be like this. We will invest an additional £7bn in our schools, enough to repair every school in the country.

“This will allow school budgets to be spent on books, teachers and equipment instead of being diverted to fix leaking roofs.”