UK Government Likened to 'Cowboy Builders' as 147 Schools Named at Risk Due to Crumbling Concrete

LONDON (AP) The British government has been accused of cutting corners as it published Wednesday a list of 147 schools in England that are potentially at risk of collapse from crumbling concrete.

The list from the Department for Education suggests that 19 schools have had to delay the start of the new academic year because of the concrete crisis and that students at 24 others will receive some remote learning, with four having switched to fully remote learning at the weekend. Other educational establishments could be added to the list over the coming days or weeks.

Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour Party, likened the government to cowboys running the country during a rowdy first Prime Minister's Questions session following the summer break.

The truth is this crisis is the inevitable result of 13 years of cutting corners, botched jobs, sticking-plaster politics," he said. Its the sort of thing you expect from cowboy builders saying that everyone else is wrong, everyone else is to blame, protesting that theyve done an effin good job even as the ceiling falls in."