Express & Star

Apprenticeships top agenda as the election bandwagon rolls into town

One conversation down, 3,999,999 to go.

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The General Election is one in which the Tories claim things are getting better, Labour that we're all worse off unless we were already wealthy.

Seeking a return to government after just one term in opposition, Labour leader Ed Miliband says the party needs to hold four million conversations with the electorate before polling day.

Rachel Reeves seems delighted with the work being done to provide a new generation of apprentices as she visits Dudley and has one of those conversations.

The shadow work and pensions secretary is here to paint a picture of a country on the road to ruin under the Tories, while the Conservatives say we need to stick with them and let them finish the job.

Yet it seems at odds with the message of hopeful optimism being shared by young people taking their first steps towards a career.

It was a Labour leader, Tony Blair, who wanted 50 per cent of young people to go on to higher education.

The party under Ed Miliband has rediscovered apprenticeships and now wants as many of those as students at university.

Meeting apprentices working for Dudley Council Miss Reeves says: "They are working in all sorts of fields, from horticulture to business admin, highways, HGVs, leisure centres and electrical engineering.

"The council is now sending current apprentices to promote the opportunities for prospective ones rather than its HR people. It's something we can do around the country."

Well done to the Tories then? After all, it's happened while they're running the country.

Labour, which is in charge of Dudley Council and took on the apprentices, says there is much more that could and should be done across Britain.

They want to create at least one apprenticeship for every £1 million spent on big public projects and impose new rules to make large companies train a new apprentice for each skilled worker they hire from outside the European Union.

"We've said after 10 years there should be as many apprenticeships as university places, giving different routes for young people to choose from when they finish school," Miss Reeves says.

"The government says everything is going well for people in the Black Country but it's had a pretty difficult four and a half years.

"This is the first time since the 1970s that people have got worse off.

"A person in work is £1,600 worse off under David Cameron. That's not a record for him to be proud of.

"We want an economy where everyone can succeed, not just a few at the top."

In Dudley North, however, the opinion polls suggest the biggest threat to Labour MP Ian Austin is from UKIP.

"We have to understand why people are voting UKIP," Miss Reeves says.

"People feel anxious about the future for their families.

"They are worried about where new jobs will come from. We're going to have to have the conversation street by street."

Mr Austin said: "Education and skills have to be our number-one priority for our area because it's the only way we'll attract the new investment and jobs on which our future prosperity depends."

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