The coalition government have announced that that more than 700 school construction or renovation programmes are to be scrapped.

Speaking on the Today programme Stephen Ratcliffe, of the UK Contractors Group, said "jobs will be lost" following the cancellations and raised concerns over the retention of the skills built up under Labour's school building drive.

But Conservative MP John Redwood argued that the outlook was "much less bleak" than suggested, estimating that "a modest recovery was underway" which would fund private construction.

Moreover, he argued, Labour's school building programme had been unrealistic in many cases, with "fictitious schools" stuck in the bureaucracy and that, in future, more building work would be possible for the same money.

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