Michael Gove, the education secretary, still remains under intense pressure despite several apologies over ministers' ministers' botched decision to scrap a massive school-building programme.
Because of errors in the original list of cancelled projects published by the Department for Education, some schools were misled into believing their projects would go ahead. Gove promised to visit each of the affected schools in person.
But the government faced mounting anger from parents and teachers around the country today, with Tory MPs demanding explanations about the cancellation of projects in their constituencies, and experts warned that millions of pounds earmarked in savings would end up being spent on fighting legal actions from disaffected local authorities.
Officials at the Department for Education confessed they could not explain the series of errors that led to parents being wrongly told that their schools were spared. "We don't have an answer on that," a spokesman said.
The government's decision to scrap Labour's schools building programme, Building Schools for the Future, began to unravel on Monday night, when a list of schools published on a government website on Monday did not match one given to MPs. When Labour pointed out the errors, a third list was produced on Tuesday, then a fourth yesterday.
In Sandwell, one of the most deprived parts of the country, there was fury at nine schools which, on Monday night, thought their projects had been saved, but found out on Tuesday that they had been cancelled.
Gove believes there is little evidence that new school buildings improve standards. He says Building Schools for the Future has been beset by "massive overspends, tragic delays, botched construction projects and needless bureaucracy".
But government officials insisted schools with desperate problems would still get money. "If a roof is leaking it needs to be replaced, but do you need a £35m oak finish?" a government spokesman said.
Legal experts say millions of pounds could be spent on legal fees as the government faces a spate of litigation from contractors and local authorities.
Legal duties to compensate contractors who had begun working on the schools, and grounds for judicial review, could lead to a mass of litigation against the government.
"It is very unusual for such a huge number of contracts to get axed mid-stream," said one legal expert in public construction contracts who is close to the project. "These contracts will have extensive termination provisions, and it is highly unlikely that the government will be able to terminate them without cost. There will almost certainly have an obligation to make substantial termination payments."
In addition to likely payouts to contractors, lawyers predict a stream of claims by local authorities who had hired architects and other professionals to work on the plans.
From Flip Chart Fairy Tales
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