AN INFLUENTIAL Tory MP blasted Prime Minister Boris Johnson today for short-changing children while spaffing £200 million on a new yacht, as the fallout over the education recovery fund intensified.

Education select committee chairman Robert Halfon told the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 that the government could “find the money from the back of the sofa” where there was the political will – including £16 billion for additional arms spending.

His remarks came the day after the government’s “catch-up tsar” Sir Kevan Collins resigned in protest at the paltry £1.4 billion allocated to the fund – just 10 per cent of what the education expert said was needed.

Mr Halfon said: “Of course, there are funding constraints, but the Treasury announced over £16bn extra for defence only last year, we’ve got £800 million being spent on a new research agency, £200m being spent on a [new royal] yacht.

“So where there is the political will, the Treasury can find the money from the back of the sofa, and there has to be that political will because we need a long-term plan for education, a proper funding settlement.”

Sir Kevan’s resignation followed the announcement of the education recovery package, which he said was “too narrow, too small and will be delivered too slowly.”

Having called for £15bn, along with 100 hours of extra schooling per student, he said that the support announced “does not come close to meeting the scale of the challenge and is why I have no option but to resign from my post.”

National Education Union joint leader Dr Mary Bousted said Sir Kevan’s departure represented “the moment when Boris Johnson’s empty words on prioritising education clash with reality.

“With a Treasury unwilling to budge and a Prime Minister and Education Secretary happy to stand back and do little or nothing, Kevan Collins’s valiant efforts to deliver a serious recovery package fell on the deafest of ears.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “It is completely understandable that Sir Kevan chose not to become a pawn in whatever game the government is playing.”

Describing the former education recovery chief as “a warrior for social justice,” Sir Peter Lampl, founder and executive chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: “Given the derisory amount the government is prepared to invest in catch-up, Sir Kevan had no choice but to walk away.”