WYRE Forest’s MP has come under more fire, after uncertainty surrounding funding for schools’ improvements in the district spread to primary schools.

Future improvements as part of a capital investment programme by Worcestershire County Council for primary schools in Wyre Forest have temporarily been put on hold.

The decision to halt the programme comes as a result of increased pressures on capital spending, according to county council chiefs.

It follows the announcement of the scrapping of the £120 million Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme in Worcestershire to rebuild or refurbish the district’s secondary schools by the new coalition government.

Nigel Knowles, Labour’s Wyre Forest spokesman, slammed the district’s Conservative MP, Mark Garnier, for an alleged lack of action in combating “the Tory axe”.

But Mr Garnier said the decision over primary schools was a matter for the county council and that Mr Knowles had got “his facts wrong”.

Mr Knowles said: “The axe has certainly been wielded in Wyre Forest regarding public expenditure.

“Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Education, continues to tough it out in relation to our local schools that have been denied capital expenditure.

“Primary and secondary schools have fallen to the Tories axe and it appears that no new schools will be built. Mr Garnier has been given a place on the finance committee.

“Well here’s a suggestion – ask him to get our local BSF money back and that for our primary schools.”

Mr Garnier retorted: “Nigel is not making intelligent points and he does not address the main point of all this – that he supported a government that bankrupted the country.

“I am on the treasury committee – not finance – and many of his facts are just plain wrong.”