Starmer says he wants apprentices at top of politics

Sir Keir Starmer said he wanted to see more apprentices reach the Cabinet as he set out plans to boost the training schemes.

The Prime Minister said politics “needs to do some catching up” because apprentices were increasingly being represented at the senior levels of businesses.

Sir Keir was speaking on a visit to McLaren’s production centre near Woking as he promised a £725 million investment which will see around 50,000 more apprenticeships being created in sectors including engineering, AI and hospitality.

The Prime Minister told workers at the plant in Surrey that many companies which valued their apprentices often had representatives on the board who came into the firm through that route.

Sir Keir said: “We need to crack this in politics, by the way, because around the Cabinet table, we did a little survey a few weeks ago, and I think pretty well everyone around the Cabinet table had been to university, but no one had been an apprentice.

“And so I think the challenge is more in politics than some of our other institutions.

“I think business actually has a good case to tell on apprenticeships going all the way to the top, I think its the rest of us that need to do some catching up, because those skills of being in a business, of working your way up and running the business, would be really good skills to have higher up in politics, in my view.”

The Prime Minister said he was “on a mission” to promote apprenticeships.

“University is good thing to do. I’m not going to knock it. That’s what I did, but being an apprenticeship is an equally good thing to do. That’s what my dad did.

“He was a highly skilled engineer and tool maker, and I don’t feel that we always make the case for equal respect for both groups.”

The funding, which covers the next three years, includes a commitment to fully fund apprenticeships at small and medium-sized businesses.

It also includes £140 million for regional mayors to link young people not in employment, education or training (Neet) with local apprenticeships.

Ministers have been especially concerned with the rising number of young people classed as Neets, which experts suggest is on course to exceed one million for the first time since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

The Government has announced an £820 million investment in tackling the Neet problem, including more training and guaranteed jobs for long-term out-of-work young people.

Sir Keir said his own 17-year-old son was making choices about his future now, choosing between university or an apprenticeship.

“I’m beginning to appreciate first hand just how hard it is to find the right apprenticeship and to get on to be an apprentice,” he said.

Labour has committed to two-thirds of young people either studying for a degree or an apprenticeship.

McLaren, whose driver Lando Norris won the Formula 1 championship on Sunday, employs 84 people in its early careers scheme and is developing apprenticeships in a range of areas to increase that number.

Sir Keir said Norris had emphasised the importance of the team behind him in his success: “I hope you felt a bit of pride, therefore, in what he’s achieved.

“Because everything that you all do, all the teamwork that you put in, is all part of what produces that incredible result.”