RACHEL REEVES said on Saturday that £1.4 billion will go to rebuilding crumbling schools as part of her first Budget.

The Chancellor said that children should not suffer for the dire state of Britain’s public finances despite the Labour government needing to fill what it describes as a £22bn “black hole” of Tory overspending.

The Treasury said the funding would support the school rebuilding programme, targeting about 500 schools over a decade.

The £1.4bn represents a £550 million increase from last year, but unions cautioned it still falls short of what is needed to restore the school estate, urging further investment in next year’s spending review.

National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said the money was a “first step — but more is needed.”

General secretary of the Association of School & College Leaders Pepe Di’Iasio welcomed the extra £550m but said it was pretty modest set against the challenge at hand, and described the target of rebuilding 50 schools a year as “woefully unambitious.”

Head teachers’ union leader Paul Whiteman said: “There remains a significant shortfall in terms of what is needed to restore the school estate to a satisfactory condition.”