Education: State seconday schools 'down by fifth in Yorkshire under Labour'

The Tories say there are now 21 extra schools with 1,500 or more pupils in the region, such as Bingley Grammar which has 1,800, but 75 fewer state maintained secondaries overall in the region.

Shadow Schools Secretary Michael Gove said the trend needed to change and parents needed more choice of smaller local schools.

Mr Gove said: "Under Gordon Brown, parents have been denied the schools they want. Good local schools are closing in Yorkshire and the size of schools is increasing. We must change direction.

"The Conservatives will give parents the power to stop the closure of good local small schools. We will also create a new generation of independent and free primary and secondary schools run by teachers who know your child's name, not by politicians."

The Tory policy aims to accelerate the academy programme by making it easier for groups of parents, teachers, charities or co-operatives to open their own schools if they are unhappy with the choice on offer.

Labour has claimed that a Tory Government could halt more than 750 school rebuilding projects already in the pipeline.

Labour says Shadow Schools Minister Nick Gibb's comments that Tories could not guarantee safeguarding Building Schools for the Future projects already in the pipeline but not completed could mean up to 68 refurbishing schemes in Yorkshire would be scrapped.

Schools Secretary Ed Balls said: "This revelation means hundreds of new school buildings right across the country face the axe if the Tories win the election. It's particularly shocking that even building projects which are already a long way down the track could be cancelled by the Conservatives in just a matter of weeks."

But a Tory spokesman said: "Labour are being hugely hypocritical in accusing us of wanting to spend less on capital projects in future years. The most recent budget shows that if Labour win the election they would cut spending on things like new schools and hospitals by 55 per cent."