YESTERDAY’S Observer newspaper a champion of the rule of the British bosses and bankers, was forced to admit that it had been told by a senior civil service whistleblower that: ‘Tory ministers and their advisers were ‘‘dangerously complacent’’ about crumbling school buildings constructed with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), that could collapse at any moment,and that they were more concerned with saving money than improving safety.
In plain English, this means that the Tory ministers thought that it was okay for teachers and pupils to work in dangerous buildings that can collapse at any time, causing a large number of deaths.
The Observer says that government ministers, were willing to take a chance on the lives of teachers and pupils and ‘were trying to get away with spending as little as possible’, rather than treating the problem with the urgency that it required.
The Observer’s whistleblower added that ‘he has seen four or five detailed submissions to ministers and advisers on the specific issue of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, RAAC, in the space of a few months in early 2022’.
The Observer admits to a series of emails leaked to it last year, in which civil servants said that more money was desperately needed from the Treasury to repair dangerous school buildings. More than 150 schools in England have now been identified as having the dangerous concrete – with many now closing buildings or classrooms to try to make them safe.
The government has not yet published a list of which schools are affected as it says it wants parents to hear from headteachers and principals about closures first.
The Department for Education (DfE) said 156 school buildings were identified as having this type of concrete – RAAC. Of them, 52 were at risk of sudden collapse and action was taken immediately to make them safe, for example by propping up the concrete.
The other 104 are currently scrambling to put safety measures in place to stay open.
Schools with RAAC only have to close or partially close if they do not have safety measures in place, and cannot make alternative arrangements – such as converting other parts of the building into temporary classrooms or moving children to another site.
There are as many as 24 of them which may have to.
But more schools may be affected by RAAC. Back in June, a report by the National Audit Office assessed that 572 schools had been identified where RAAC might be present. Engineers at schools across the country have been carrying out surveys to work out where the problems are.
The Tories now have a record that proves that their aim is to destroy all of the gains that the working class has made since the Second World War.
They have brought in legislation that will junk the right to strike and see unions that do not collaborate pay massive fines.
There are busy shutting down all railway ticket offices and have driven the NHS to the point where doctors and nurses have organised a great revolt to save the NHS from being butchered.
The Tories cannot be allowed to get away with murder. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is set to meet in Liverpool for a week next Sunday.
The Young Socialists and the WRP have called for a massive lobby of the TUC on Monday September 11th at 8am. We call on all of the trade unions and for the masses of working class youth to join the mass lobby and to demand that delegates put down a Congress Resolution calling for a general strike to bring down the Tories and bring in a workers government and socialism.
The big banks and the major industries must be nationalised and put under workers ownership to build a Britain that stands for workers rights and socialism.
There must be a mass lobby of the TUC and the general strike motion must be put down at the Congress and be carried.
This will echo all round Europe, Asia and the Americas. Capitalism has had its day and its supporters admit that it is exhausted and not capable of any progressive development.
So join the mass lobby of the TUC on Monday September 11th at 8am to urge delegates to put down and carry the motion naming the date to start an indefinite general strike to bring down the Tories and go forward to socialism!
