Andy Burnham has unveiled plans to give Britain’s youth a “real” education, a major break from the New Labour drive to get Britons to go to university.
Children as young as 14 will be encouraged to pursue “a real, hands-on technical education” alongside a “core” of English, maths and science at school.
Then, pupils would study for technical qualifications like T-levels or apprenticeships rather than A-levels – while gaining work experience.
Writing in The Times last night, the Prime Minister said the route to success had been built around “degrees and desks” for too long, but now Britain needs “brilliant engineers, electricians and cybersecurity experts more than ever before”.
Mr Burnham says the Department for Education will be reallocating its budgets to invest in technical skills and will be changing the way schools are measured and rated to reflect that.
The changes follow Alan Milburn’s warning in his May report that Britain risks leaving behind a “lost generation” of young people ill-prepared for work.
Mr Milburn last night said the reforms were “very welcome”, adding: “They are a big step in the right direction and consistent with the findings of my review.”
They form part of a slew of early policy announcements in the eight days since the Prime Minister took charge.
Tomorrow, he is set to unveil plans to fast-track social care reforms, while on Friday he will unveil proposals to devolve more tax and spending powers to regional mayors – just hours after his replacement as Greater Manchester Mayor is decided.
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Conservatives: Andy Burnham’s education drive ‘doesn’t come close to undoing Labour’s damage’
Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott, reacting to the Prime Minister’s plans last night, said: “The announcements today don’t come anywhere close to undoing the damage Labour has already done to the job market.
“Labour’s policies are driving youth unemployment to record highs.
“They are making it too expensive to hire young people, and destroying jobs with their jobs tax and employer red tape.”
She branded the announcement “all over the place”, arguing: “Labour have literally just legislated to strip schools of their freedom to choose what’s best for the pupils they’re teaching, yet now they imply it should be locally tailored.”
Andy Burnham urged to bring in EMERGENCY powers to stop rapists and paedophiles flooding Britain’s streets
Andy Burnham has been urged to introduce emergency powers to stop the early release of serious offenders, including paedophiles and rapists, onto Britain’s streets.
The Prime Minister paused the controversial early release scheme last week and ordered a review, after the family of police officer Andrew Harper raised concerns over two of his killers being considered for early release.
Under changes in the Sentencing Act, some 6,000 offenders were set to be let out of prison in September after serving a third of their sentence, including killers, rapists and sex offenders.
As he ordered a probe into the scheme, Mr Burnham said: “No prisoners will be let out under this policy until we have conducted an urgent review and done everything we can to minimise risk to the public.”
It is expected to report back within the “coming days and weeks”, according to one of his housing ministers Sally Jameson.
The Tories warn the review does not go far enough, and a change in the law entirely is needed to prevent the release of dangerous offenders.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said last night: “Andy Burnham must prove he is serious by acting now to stop Labour’s early release scheme.
“Instead, in an echo of Starmer, he has announced another Government review. It’s not good enough. Without emergency legislation, dangerous violent and sexual offenders will be released at the start of September.
“The Conservatives have fought this dangerous scheme from day one. It’s all well and good cutting bills and bus fares, but that pales into insignificance when paedophiles and rapists are about to be let out on our streets. Burnham needs to show us he’s ready to take the tough decisions.”
Zack Polanski ‘didn’t consciously choose’ to share Nigel Farage decapitation post claims Green activist
Zack Polanski “didn’t consciously choose” to share an image of a man wearing a t-shirt that called for the decapitation of Nigel Farage, a Green activist has claimed.
Dr Ashok Kumar told GB News last night it was “obvious” that Mr Polanski’s post was “clearly a mistake”.
“Obviously, Zack didn’t choose to consciously do this,” Dr Kumar said. “It was a post of 20 images. It’s clearly a mistake… He immediately [took it down] when it was identified.”
The Green Party boss had “collaborated” on the post with multiple Instagram users – meaning it appeared on his profile the same way any other photo would.
His more than 700,000 followers were treated to an image of a man in a black t-shirt emblazoned with the words: “We’re only making plans for Nigel,” alongside a guillotine.
“Sometimes there’s many images,” Dr Kumar, also an associate professor of Political Economy at Birkbeck University, said.
“You see the first few images… You just accept it, assuming it’s going to be okay.”
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