Soaring energy costs are threatening to derail education, warns Portsmouth's Labour MP

Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan has lambasted the government’s ‘failure’ to deal with school energy bills, which he says is threatening children’s education.

It comes as the Labour party claimed that school energy bills had doubled over the past year according to their analysis of data from the House of Commons Library.

Mr Morgan, who is Labour’s shadow schools minister, said: ‘Children have already faced huge disruption due to the Government’s chaotic handling of the pandemic and now the cost-of-living crisis, made worse by Downing Street, is further squeezing school budgets.

Demanding better from government, he added: ‘Ministers must get a grip and engage with schools to ensure children do not lose out on further opportunities.

‘Labour is calling on the government to prioritise children’s learning and development post-pandemic, with breakfast and afterschool clubs, tutoring and mental health support.’

The Department for Education said it recognised schools ‘may be facing cost pressures in the coming months’, with a government spokesman insisting that they were ‘looking carefully at how these rises will impact schools’ as Whitehall considers what ‘additional support’ could be offered.