Burnham goes on the offensive

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

Andy Burnham belied his “nice-guy” reputation today, and went on the offensive against Michael Gove in his first outing as shadow education secretary. Burnham attacked the Education secretary, saying that he “failed to understand the difference between being a minister and a journalist”.

Speaking in the commons, Andy said:

“He promised hundreds of free schools, but signed off just 16, he promised thousands of academies, but so far has signed off 15 and he put his mistakes on Building Schools for the Future, threw schools into chaos and prompted four legal challenges from local authorities.”

“Can he confirm he proceeded with his decision to scrap school building projects despite being warned by his senior civil servant that local authorities would have a fairly strong legal case against his department?”