Northumberland Labour says the national government and local council are letting down the children of Northumberland.

Shadow cabinet member for children and young people Julie Foster said: “Last minutes decisions, inadequate funding and slashing education budgets are all adding up to a perfect storm for our children who, quite frankly, deserve much better.

“We’ve seen the way school funding is calculated slash thousands off Northumberland school budgets and we’ve yet to see any meaningful plans to support our children as they recover from this pandemic. It speaks volumes that the person who advised them on their recovery plans had no option orther than to resign, such was their frustration at the lack of serious investment.

“The government is letting children down. There’s no doubt about it. Labour want to ensure that children have opportunities for socialising, playing sport and taking part in the arts as well as learning. This is what they’ve missed out on.“Children and their families need to know there is a proper co-ordinated recovery plan and this is what Labour will be pressing for.”