Plan B for school spending cuts

London: Education Secretary, Michael Gove, faced demands last night to devise an emergency "plan B" for schools hit by controversial spending cuts as he prepared for a Commons inquisition from MPs furious at the cancellation of building projects.

Gove will face the wrath of MPs from all parties at education questions today, when he is questioned for the first time since announcing that 700 school rebuilding projects would be scrapped to help cut the deficit. The coalition government's problems mounted further as Liberal Democrats and Tories demanded immediate reassurance that alternative arrangements would be drawn up to help those schools most in need of renovation.

After a week in which Gove had to apologise over errors on his list of casualties, further mistakes came to light yesterday as it emerged that Wigan and Bolton councils had projects axed despite having met the criteria for them to go ahead.

And Nick Clegg was planning to call Warren Bradley, leader of the Liberal Democrats on Liverpool council, after Bradley warned that the party faced being "wiped out" as a result of the mistakes. He said 26 projects had been cancelled in the city. A number of businesses and local councils are also considering legal action.