Sunak hits back at whistleblower's claim that he ignored warning children were in danger from collapsing concrete

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Rishi Sunak tried to distance himself from claims by a former mandarin that he ignored warnings about a "critical risk to life" due to ruined schools when he was Chancellor.

This explosive allegation was made by a Mandarin whistleblower from the Department for Education, who claimed that the then Chancellor was involved in a decision to cut spending on repairs to schools - after learning that students' lives were in danger. The Falling Concrete.

This has put Mr Sunak in the direct political crosshairs as the crumbling concrete crisis engulfs the government. The Prime Minister has said it is "completely and utterly wrong" to suggest he was responsible for the failure to fully fund a program to rebuild England's schools when he was Chancellor.

< p>He told the media: 'One of the first things I did as chancellor, during my first spending review in 2020, was to announce a new 10-year school reconstruction program for 500 schools.

"Now that equates to about 50 schools a year, which will be renovated or rebuilt.

"If you look at what we've done over the decade previous year, this is very much in line with what we have always done."

But Jonathan Slater, the former permanent secretary at the Department for Education, said officials were aware of the need to rebuild between 300 and 400 schools a year when Mr Sunak was in the Treasury from 2019 to 2022.

He told the BBC Radio 4's Today program DfE was denied the funding needed to repair schools.

"It was frustrating," said Mr. Slater, his voice cracking with emotion as he spoke of his "frustration" with the way whose pleas had fallen on deaf ears.

He said the ministry had asked for money to rebuild 300 to 400 schools a year after discovering the scale of the crisis crumbling concrete.

But the Treasury only provides $100 a year and in 2021 - when Mr Sunak was chancellor - that amount was further reduced to just $50, even though the ministry requested that be doubled to 200 for security reasons.

Mr. Slater said he was “absolutely amazed at the decision taken by the chancellor.”

Asked to clarify who the chancellor was, he replied, “Rishi Sunak.

“We weren't just saying there's a significant risk of death, we were saying there's a critical risk to life if the (reconstruction) program doesn't is not funded," he said.

"When I was permanent secretary in 2018, a concrete block fell off the roof of an elementary school, so it wasn't only a risk, it was actually starting to happen.

"It was frustrating - as you can hear in my voice."

He said the Tories were the best...