Shadow education secretary Andy Burnham this week accused his opposite number of “making a mess” of the schools budget. Mr Burnham called Michael Gove’s pupil premium policy a “con”, claiming it did not come from outside the education budget as had been promised. In a heated exchange during education questions in the Commons on Monday (15 November), Mr Burnham said: “The pupil premium is not what it seems. It will create winners and losers and, scandalously, the biggest losers are set to be schools in the most deprived areas of England.”