MOST of Merseyside missed out yesterday when the government handed out an extra £500m to build extra school classrooms.

Only St Helens Council received money – just £18,232 – in stark contrast to some London authorities, including Redbridge, £28.6m; Waltham Forest, £25.1m; Brent, £24.8m; and Barking and Dagenham, £23.9m.

Halton, Warrington and Cheshire West and Chester were also among the 40 councils in England that did not receive a penny.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said the money was intended to help councils cope with a predicted leap in the number of pupils over the next few years, an increase that would primarily hit the South.

However, the grants follow a savage 60% cut in overall capital spending on schools this year – a cut that will not be reversed before 2015.

As a result, the total school maintenance budgets for the likes of Liverpool (£10.8m) and North Yorkshire (£8m) are far smaller than some of the London top-ups announced.

Mr Gove, who had been criticised for the original capital spending cut, said the extra £500m had been found from “efficiencies and savings” in other rebuilding projects. It was needed because there would be 21% more primary age children over the next decade.