Bolton West MP Chris Green votes to cover up school concrete crisis

• Bolton West Conservative MP, Chris Green, has voted against a parliamentary motion which would have forced the government to publish key information on the RAAC crisis

• Westhoughton Liberal Democrat councillor Neil Maher is demanding answers and emergency funding for all impacted schools

Chris Green, Conservative MP for Bolton West, has voted to block the publication of spending requested by the Department for Education to fix RAAC school roofs, amid revelations that funding requests were blocked by Rishi Sunak during his time as Chancellor. 

The Liberal Democrats voted for the motion and have been pressuring the government to be transparent about their funding decisions when it comes to school maintenance. 

Neil Maher, Lib Dem councillor for Westhoughton South, has slammed the Conservative MP for Bolton West for his “utter contempt” for Westhoughton’s constituents after he voted to cover up the thinking behind the government’s decision to underinvest in school maintenance. 

Councillor Maher said: “Parents in Westhoughton deserve to know  the truth about the safety of their children in school. We need to have full transparency from the government over what led us to this point.

“How else can we fully understand the situation if the government hides the facts? Yet again it feels like we are being left in the dark and taken for granted by Conservative Ministers. 

“For Chris Green to not want to see this information made public speaks volumes.

 “He would rather see Rishi Sunak and the government cover up their underfunding of schools than allow their constituents to understand how we got into this crisis. It shows their utter contempt for the constituents of Westhoughton and we deserve better.”