MINISTERS were today challenged to rethink their decision not to authorise a £150million schools overhaul in Blackburn and Darwen.

The move came after league tables revealed the area was struggling to keep up with other education authorities.

The annual Key Stage Two statistics, which report on the number of 11 year-olds meeting minimum government standards in English, maths and science, have revealed Blackburn with Darwen Council is now 133rd out of 150 local education authorities in the country.

The percentage of students achieving the minimum has slipped, while no school recorded 100per cent success in each of the three subjects.

Those pupils have now gone on to high school, and would have benefited from the £150million of Building Schools for the Future cash Blackburn with Darwen Council asked for to overhaul its nine secondary schools.

Waves two and three, for the years 2006 and 2007, were announced by the Government on Tuesday.

And according to schools minister David Miliband, Blackburn with Darwen missed out because there were other authorities with more pressing educational and socio-economic needs.

But today's tables reveal that just five of the 20 successful local education authorities actually returned lower Key Stage Two results than Blackburn with Darwen.

And of those five, only Nottingham is ranked higher than Blackburn with Darwen in the Government's index of deprivation.

The index, which ranks the authority with the most deprived area at one, and the most affluent at 354, places Blackburn with Darwen at 25th. Nottingham is inside the top 10.

Coun Kate Hollern, leader of Blackburn with Darwen, said: "The figures don't add up. We need help." Blackburn's MP Jack Straw said.: "The council has been very successful in getting investment in schools and I don't think there is a single school in the borough which hasn't benefited.

"Part of the reason that Blackburn was not in Wave 2 or 3 of the Building Schools for the Future programme was because it had done so well in the past."

Coun Paul Browne, leader of the Lib Dems, said: "The statistics the government is obsessed with show that they've got it wrong."

Coun John Williams, a Tory member of the council's education scrutiny committee, said: "It's very disappointing news and hard to understand."

Success rates in primary school English, maths and science tests soared to record levels this year, sparking fresh debate about the usefulness of league tables.

This year's tables showed a sharp rise in the number of schools in which every 11-year-old reached the minimum standard.