A record number of kids are being shut out of school over drugs and booze - with the blame laid on County Lines gangs.
Criminal groups recruiting and threatening youngsters have sent the number of exclusions soaring by almost a FIFTH in one year.
And Tory MPs are under fire for failing to heed warnings that vile crooks are exploiting vulnerable children.
Figures obtained by us show pupils over 12 are being sent home at unprecedented rates for breaching drugs and alcohol rules.
In the last complete school year of 2018-19 there were 12,079 exclusions for turning up drunk or high, dealing drugs or abusing prescription medication.
A shocking 11,410 were temporary suspensions and 669 permanent expulsions.
That compared to 10,308 exclusions in 2017-18, when there were 9,687 were suspensions and 621 expulsions.
The figures for last year were a record, with suspensions up 17% and expulsions up 7%.
In the same period cops arrested around 50 children a week on suspicion of dealing drugs.
The figures come amid an explosion of County Lines gangs who exploit kids to ship drugs miles away from their bases – making up to £800,000 profit in a year.
Fiona Spargo-Mabbs, whose son Daniel died at 16 after taking ecstasy in 2014, called the figures “really, really worrying”.
Fiona, founder of drugs education charity the Daniel Spargo-Mabbs Foundation, said: “Vulnerable kids are so much more vulnerable when they are not in school.”
Paul North of drug policy think tank Volteface said: “It is becoming more common for County Lines gangs to use kids.
“But it’s important that these kids are treated as vulnerable instead of being criminalised.”
Junior Smart, founder of the St Giles Trust-run SOS Gangs Project, said: “There is a clear interconnection between County Lines and school exclusions.”
Christopher McGovern of the Campaign for Real Education said: “There has been a breakdown of order in some schools.”
Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds blamed Tory cuts to police and support services for the rise in County Lines.
The Education Department said it supported any decision to suspend or expel pupils.
