Conservative education plans would lead to "cuts and chaos" in the schools system, according to analysis published by the Labour Party today.

As Labour pushes through plans to raise the education and training leaving age to 18, which will be debated in the House of Commons tomorrow, the Conservatives are opposing this historic reform. They are instead proposing a series of ill-thought out policies and gimmicks that would lead to cuts and chaos in the schools system.

David Cameron plans to create 223,000 "additional" school places. But the Tories have not explained the implications of their so called "Swedish Model" of school reform.

The Tories have already said that the capital costs would be met by cutting £4.5 billion from Labour's plans to rebuild or refurbish every secondary school in England as part of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. These cuts would mean one in seven future school rebuilds being cancelled in constituencies across the country.

For example, in the Crewe and Nantwich constituency there are six secondary schools which are due to be rebuilt or refurbished as part of Labour's BSF programme: Kings Grove County High School; Ruskin County High School; Shavington County High School; St. Thomas More R.C. High School; Brine Leas High School; Malbank High School. One of these would no longer be rebuilt under Conservative plans.

But David Cameron has not explained how the extra revenue costs of these 223,000 "additional" school places would be funded. Based on the Conservative Party's own assumptions about the number of places to be created, and using current costs per pupil, the full revenue costs of this policy would be £5.2 billion over nine years, and then £930 million recurring for every subsequent year.

Tory schools policy either means a £5.2 billion black hole in their spending plans, or £5.2 billion of cuts to existing schools. These costs will either have to be met from tax rises and cuts to other public services, or they will have to be found from cuts in existing schools. In this case schools would need to sack 13,000 teachers and 7,000 support staff by the end of the nine year programme.

The costings are detailed in the document 'Cuts, chaos and gimmicks: Tory education policies exposed' which is released today. The document also details the true costs and implications of other Tory education plans.

Ed Balls MP, Labour's Schools Secretary, said:

"The Tories say they want to be judged on three policy areas including school reform, so it's time their proposals got much closer scrutiny. The truth is that David Cameron's so-called 'Swedish model' either leaves a £5.2 billion black hole in their finances or it means massive cuts for other schools.

"Michael Gove described raising the education and training leaving age to 18 as a 'gimmick'. But it is his party's addiction to gimmicks that would lead to cuts and chaos in our schools.

"The Tories should back our plans to promote excellence for all and not just some. That means they should support our plans to raise the education and training leaving age, back our Diplomas, support fair admissions for all pupils and parents, and focus more on improving school standards.

"And they should come clean about the implications of their policies for taxes and public services. Which school rebuilding projects would they cancel? Which schools would have to lay off teachers to pay for their 'New Academies'?"

Jim Knight MP, Labour's Minister for Schools and Learners, said:

"By raiding the Building Schools for the Future programme the Tories are putting hundreds of schools across the country at risk. Their £4.5 billion cuts to Labour's school rebuilding programme would see 360 promised school rebuilds cancelled in constituencies across the country. One of the six secondary schools in Crewe would not be rebuilt.

"On top of this, their plans for 223,000 additional school places would cost £1.8 billion in revenue costs over the first five years, £5.2 billion over the nine years of their plans, and £930 million every year after that. It's now time for the Tories to come clean and say whether they would pay for their plans by tax rises and cuts to other public services, or from cuts from existing school budgets.

"This is not the only Tory education policy that falls apart under scrutiny. Once you take a closer look at what they're proposing it's a list of badly thought through gimmicks that would lead to cuts and chaos."

Andrew Adonis, Labour's Schools Minister, said:

"Our Academies programme is creating hundreds of new schools where pupils and parents most need standards to rise, and it has been a great success. But the Tories' haphazard approach would simply divert billions of pounds from areas that really need investment to places where there is no real need or demand for new schools.

"It is the Labour party that has not just talked about radical education reform, but has the experience to put it into practice. The Tory proposals for 'New Academies' would simply not improve standards in the way that our Academies programme does.

"In addition their proposals to end parents' right of appeal against unfair exclusions would mean more head teachers being forced to defend their decisions in the courts, and the Association of School and College Leaders has been very clear that they do not want this policy. Meanwhile Tory plans to allow schools to keep the funding for pupils they exclude means they have a funding gap. They have not explained how they would pay for excluded pupils to get the help they need to get back on track."