Know your place
How very brave of the Tory party to promise 100,000 new apprenticeships and to fund them by cutting university places. Brave because it gives the distinct impression that “uni is not for the like of you”, know your place and get a job on the factory floor.
It is also brave because they are raising money they don’t need to pay for those apprenticeships. When the government “reformed” the apprenticeship system in 2017 they raised a small fortune every year from business to pay for the scheme.
Much of that money has remained unspent, as the “reform” was such a disaster that the number of places available collapsed. The number of people starting apprenticeships has fallen 31 per cent in England since the apprenticeship levy was introduced. In fact there are now 160,000 fewer apprentice places a year than there were before the “reforms”.
It has been a long running and silent disaster, if the scheme had worked or even stayed as it was there would be almost 1 million more highly trained staff in the country. But it has been a total failure and a disaster.
It is pretty rich to claim that they have a cunning scheme to increase apprentice number when they have spent the last 8 years doing nothing and when there cunning new scheme will not even reverse their disastrous policies, which they have known about for 8 years.. To raise the money the Tory party would have to close 13% of all university courses, but probably not really useless ones like PPE, Greek or Latin.
It is depressing to think what that would do to the finances of universities and as I said it is totally unnecessary, the money from the apprenticeship levy is already available, it just hasn’t been spent.
So far fewer trained workers because of the Tory party, and fewer university opportunities for millions.
But still it is far better that the poor know their place from the start; on the shop floor, stay there and tug your forelocks thickos. The Tories just love the youth vote don’t they?
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.
By Jonty Bloom Media
Who dreams up these mad ideas?