Michael Gove has been attacked for spending £45 million of public money on a single free school in London.

Just days after people in London teaching jobs joined colleagues across the country in industrial action caused by pay and pensions wrangles, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) called the decision to spend a huge sum on a single school an "outrageous waste of money".

The Westminster Harris sixth form is due to open in September with a first academically selective intake of just 125 students.

To put the figure in context, the Department for Education states £743 million has been spent on establishing 174 free schools for 80,000 pupils so far, which is an average of £4.27 million per school - a tenth of what Westminster Harris is costing.

According to the Department for Education, the money is warranted as there exists an "inspirational" partnership between academy backer the Harris Foundation and the private Westminster School - an arrangement that gives disadvantaged children from across the capital access to a sixth form, the like of which is normally reserved for affluent pupils.

A spokesperson added that free schools offer good value for money and are created at a fraction of the cost of previous programmes, as new school buildings are built for costs around 40 per cent cheaper than they were under the Building Schools for the Future Programme.

Commons' Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairwoman Margaret Hodge echoed the incredulous calls expressed by NUT, calling it a crazy vanity project.

She said: "[The PAC] are looking at Free Schools and Academies all the time and the costs are going up. The cost per school is going up way above what the Government said it was going to be and money is tight.

"Of course we want to increase choice but you have to prioritise basic need. It's crazy - what is unacceptable is the price being paid at a time in a time of austerity on a vanity project." 

Is the "inspirational" partnership worth the money when teachers all across the country have issues with pay? Let us know your thoughts.