‘Labour’s apprenticeships and skills focus will restore pride, opportunity and growth to communities’
The Government’s recent announcement that 50,000 young people will benefit from an expansion in apprenticeships is yet another sign of the revival of a focus on skills that has taken place since the 2024 election. The £725 million package of reforms to the apprenticeship system will help to tackle Britain’s persistent youth unemployment and, crucially, drive the economic growth the country desperately needs. The similar announcement on expanded work experience in the armed services will give successful applicants invaluable skills to set them up for success in their careers in military or civilian life.
After a decade or more of shameful inaction, this year has seen the Labour government bring skills in from the cold. From the Youth Guarantee to a new generation of technical colleges, thousands of young people will benefit as a result.
It’s not just about economic growth. It is also about opportunities for people to thrive and for places to regain pride. Economic efficiency and social justice have always been two sides of the same coin. Work Secretary Pat McFadden clearly gets this as he has taken to new levels the Youth Guarantee and a focus on tackling youth unemployment. Labour’s reforms are designed to tackle the 40 per cent drop in people starting apprenticeships over the last decade
I represent Peterborough – a city that had its apprenticeship base hollowed out under the last government, alongside the assault on further education. It is little wonder we have such high levels of young people starting their adult lives stuck on benefits. The loss of traditional jobs has torn the heart out of towns like mine. And for many without jobs, the benefits system provides a minimum income, but no clear pathway back into the jobs market. In fact, the system can often leave them trapped in a cycle of worklessness and poor health. That’s why the skills revolution is as much about civic pride as individual prosperity – pride in our jobs, employers, and communities.
Blue-collar focus
This new ‘blue-collar’ focus on skills plays to Labour’s values and strengths. Moving skills into the Department of Work of Pensions (DWP) was an essential sign we’re turning the page. Fixing Britain’s broken system of social security must be a priority for this Labour government. There is no dignity in denying young people the opportunity to learn, earn or make a better life for themselves.
Full employment and good quality jobs have been a central part of Labour’s most successful periods in office. Conversely, Labour has struggled when its approach has not been rooted in the politics of work.
Beveridge’s landmark report in 1942 laid the foundations for Labour’s post-war welfare state, with an NHS, free education for all, and full employment. The vision of Labour leaders such as Attlee, Morrison, and Bevin was that every citizen would live a life free from want, squalor, disease, or poverty, with meaningful help when things were tough.
But in return, every citizen was expected to play a full part in the social and economic life of the nation. The welfare state was never something-for-nothing. Foundational to Labour’s thinking was the belief that we should protect and support those who could not work. But it was also anchored in the idea that everyone who could work, should.
Heartbreaking
Economic inactivity not only holds back growth, making us all poorer, but also blights the lives of those without work. It breaks my heart to see people caught in joblessness who could be working, making their way in life, and making a contribution to our community. It can be intergenerational, with two or three generations in the same family signing on.
Today, Labour needs to remember its radical roots in the politics of work. We need an approach to social security no less ambitious than those of Beveridge, Bevin, or Brown.
Of course, a central duty of the welfare state is to offer support and compassion to those who cannot work and that should be at the heart of any reform. Lifting children out of poverty is a key mission and the recent Budget was another step forward. Next we need to lift the poverty of ambition that has held us back and let the next generation thrive
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