Apprenticeships are a great way to get on the job training to get the skills you need to get a good, well paid job. Since 97, Labour has rescued apprenticeships from collapse and has built them up so they are well on their way to taking their rightful place as a mainstream training option for young people. In 97, only 60,000 people started apprenticeships, and hardly anyone finished. Next year, we hope over a quarter of a million young people will start an apprenticeship, and completion rates have risen from a quarter 5 years ago to nearly two thirds now.

Figures released in apprenticeship week show that the number of people completing an apprenticeship in the Wirral West constituency has risen 110% in the last 4 years. I’ve met apprentices from all walks of life and they tell me just how important they are in helping them attain the skills they need to get on in life. And local businesses tell me apprentices are hardworkers and bring energy and innovation into their companies. As Alan Sugar says, apprentices “make things happen”.

That’s why I’m horrified by the Conservative party’s plans to slash £610m from the Innovation, Universities and Skills budget from 1^st April. Those cuts could mean not a single person over the age of 19 starting an apprenticeship in Wirral West next year. And the £300m cuts to the non schools budget of the department for children schools and families could also mean very few apprenticeship places for young people.

These cuts would come just at the very worst time, when people extra help to get training and skills, and businesses need a boost to their bottom line. Just when Labour has increased the number of apprenticeships by 35,000 next year, to help people and businesses through the downturn, the Conservatives are threatening to cut them.

It just goes to show the difference between the Conservatives and the Labour Party. We are committed to offering real help now to inviduals, families and businesses to help them through the downturn and preparing for the upturn. But the Conservatives would turn their backs on people when they need help most, just like they always have done.

Please sign my Petition bellow:

“We the undersigned know how an apprenticeship can change peoples’ lives and help them get the skills and training they need to get a good, well paid job. We are deeply concerned about the Conservative Party’s plans to cut £610m from skills and universities budget from 1^st April, which could mean not a single person over the age of 19 having the opportunity to become an apprentice. We call on the Tory candidate for Wirral West to defy David Cameron and pledge to match Labour’s spending in this essential area.”