Gillian Keegan 'sat on ass' outburst puts pressure on Sunak over collapsing schools crisis

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Pressure is mounting on Rishi Sunak after his education secretary was caught on camera saying others had 'sat idly' in the face of the collapse of schools.

Gillian Keegan was filmed expressing her frustrations at the response to the Raac concrete scandal, after it emerged that Mr Sunak had cut funding for rebuilding schools .

In footage released by ITV News, Ms Keegan - still carrying her microphone - criticized others and said she should be praised for doing a 'good job'.

She said, "Has anyone ever said 'you know what, you did a great job because everyone just sat there idly and did nothing?'

The Education Secretary added: 'No sign of that, right?'

The extraordinary outburst comes after Mr Sunak earlier said he was "totally wrong" to blame him for the Raac scandal, even though it emerged he had cut funding for school grounds renovations while he was chancellor.

Ms Keegan later apologized and said she was not referring to any 'anyone in particular' when she complained that other people had 'sat and done nothing' about the crisis of the RAAC in schools.

The Education Secretary told broadcasters it was an 'unprompted' remark made after the interviewer pressed her very hard, she said.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan (Jonathan Brady/PA)

(PA Wire)

Insisting that he didn't blame other ministers or schools, she added: "It's also frustrating that we have questionnaires that are still not there, we continued and continued, we have written to you again today to tell you that you must receive your questionnaires by the end of the week.

Labour Shadow Schools Minister Stephen Morgan said: 'It is a staggering admission that Rishi Sunak and the Tories have done nothing to address a problem they have known about for decades. years,” he said.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Keir Starmer told TV stations that the whole situation “was deteriorating ...