LIVERPOOL City Council must show "leadership" to improve the city's schools, the Education Secretary Michael Gove said yesterday – and stop complaining about funding cuts.

In a provocative interview with the Daily Post, Michael Gove attempted to draw a line under the bitter row that followed the scrapping of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme at 26 ageing Liverpool secondaries.

Instead, he urged the Labour-led city council to focus on how to help more schools convert into independent academies. Just six secondaries have switched so far – and no primaries.

And he added: "Of course resources matter, but it's also the case that leadership matters and one of the critical questions is whether Liverpool council is giving a strong leadership in the areas that count?

"Are they challenging underperforming schools, are they insisting that students do the right subjects to get them ahead and are they taking the right steps on discipline? What more can be done to attract great teachers into Liverpool schools?"

Mr Gove said the "partnership" between Whitehall and town halls involved the government providing money, but also required local councils to "hold schools rigorously to account".

And he added: "The question I think Liverpool people should ask is 'Has our local authority been as vigorous and energetic in tackling underperformance in this area as they should have been?'"

When it was suggested that Mr Gove clearly believed the city council was falling in those areas; he replied: "I'm not going to add anything to what I have already said."