A BIRKENHEAD MP has slammed the Conservative government for a maths error which will cost schools in Wirral more than £2million.

The Department for Education last month acknowledged that it had miscalculated the amounts of funding due to be granted to state schools in England next year, admitting to a £370m error in the information they gave schools in July.

Analysis of updated funding figures released by Labour has found that schools in Wirral will be on average £22,121 worse off or £52 per pupil down next year due to the Conservatives’ school budget maths bungle.

Schools in the North West are set to be £53,348,157 worse off in total, more than the average cut of £37 million and schools across Wirral are set to be worse off by £2,411,220.

Mick Whitley, MP for Birkenhead, said: “Rishi Sunak says young people need to be learning maths to 18. Perhaps he should teach his own Ministers to count first.

“The Tories’ staggering mathematical incompetence will cause real and lasting harm to students living across the Wirral, and particularly in the most deprived communities in Birkenhead.

“It follows over a decade of brutal tory cuts to school budgets and government failures over the pandemic which disrupted students’ learning and pushed our schools to breaking point.”

Labour said the latest mistake at the Department for Education will cause “yet more pain” for schools already struggling to balance budgets. The party added that trust in the school system was “already at breaking point” due to the days of learning missed by children in recent years.

Labour also pointed to the decisions taken by the Conservatives to open pubs before schools during covid, to prolong strike action by refusing to negotiate with trade unions and to cut funding for school rebuilding, leading to the RAAC concrete crisis which has affected hundreds of schools, causing many to shut their doors.