Labour warns working-class children ‘left on scrapheap’ as apprenticeships vowed

Too many working-class children are being “left on the scrapheap”, Scottish Labour has said as the party sets out plans for an apprenticeship guarantee.

Labour leader Anas Sarwar will announce the pledge and plans to build a skills system as he accused the SNP of offering “broken promises instead of opportunity” to young people.

He said: “This is a snobby Government that only seems to value one route in life, while too many talented young people who choose apprenticeships, further education or work are treated as an afterthought.

“I want to build a Scotland where working-class children can thrive whatever path they choose, whether that is an apprenticeship, further education, university, or going straight into work.

“But under the SNP, too many are being left on the scrapheap.

“This is the same John Swinney who downgraded the exam results of working-class kids, and now young people are still paying the price for an out-of-touch Government that does not understand their lives or value their potential.”

Labour said its apprenticeship guarantee would aim to create 9,000 new apprenticeship, and the party also vowed to ringfence Scotland’s share of Apprenticeship Levy funding.

It would be spent on skills, widening work placements, improving careers advice, strengthening links between schools and employers, and supporting colleges and universities to offer more skills-based modules and industrial placements.

Mr Sarwar continued: “I’m standing to fix the mess, get the basics right and build a better future for Scotland.

“A Scottish Labour government I lead will deliver an apprenticeship guarantee, creating 9,000 new apprenticeship places so every qualified young person who wants an apprenticeship in a key industry can get one.

“We will build a skills system that opens doors, values every path and gives every young person the chance of a secure, skilled and well-paid future.

“This election is a straight choice between more broken promises from the SNP, or a new era of opportunity with Scottish Labour.

“On May 7, vote Scottish Labour on both votes for the change Scotland needs.”

SNP candidate for Mid Fife & Glenrothes, Jenny Gilruth, said: “The Labour Party are responsible for a devastating jobs tax on businesses and an unemployment rate that has soared on their watch. When it comes to rehashed promises from the Labour Party and Anas Sarwar, people have heard it all before.

“The reality is that the Labour Party is so consumed by its own chaos that its sole focus is on saving one job – Keir Starmer’s.

“In government, the SNP has already delivered around 400,000 apprenticeship opportunities – our manifesto sets out a seismic expansion which will deliver 150,000 apprenticeships over the course of the next Scottish Parliament.

“That is what Scotland’s young people, our economy and our businesses get with both votes for the SNP on May 7th – the trusted leadership of John Swinney and a Government that is always on Scotland’s side.”