Lib Dem action on school places.

9.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 21st Apr 2010

Waltham Forest Lib Dems have pledged to take immediate steps to sort out the schools places crisis if the party takes control of the council following the elections in May. When Labour's Schools Minister Ed Balls visited Walthamstow on 25 March he blamed the council for the shortage of primary school places and refused to guarantee local schools the money they need to cope with extra pupils. Parliamentary candidate Farooq Qureshi said: "Labour would have swept this issue under the carpet until it was too take action. The shortage of school places is not an easy problem to solve because new schools are expensive and cannot be built overnight. But instead of Labour's hand-wringing we need clear leadership that is honest about the challenges."