Miliband’s vocational ‘education, education, education’

Mr Miliband will tell his party’s annual conference that “gold standard” vocational qualifications are needed for young people who do not go to university.

His plans would see a new technical baccalaureate awarded at 18 to youngsters who complete a programme of work experience, school-based vocational training and academic courses in English and maths.

The Labour leader will say that employers should be given control of a £1bn annual budget for apprenticeships, allowing them to shape the training they need to run their businesses effectively.

Personal

He will also talk personally about his own upbringing, as a comprehensive school boy and son of Jewish immigrants who fled the Nazis.

Mr Miliband will tell delegates in Manchester: “For years and years, our party has focused on those young people who go to university, and that matters.

“But it’s time now to focus on those who don’t go to university – the young people who are too often the forgotten 50 per cent.

“We cannot succeed if we can have an education system which only works for half the country.”

Mr Miliband will say Britain needs young people who aspire to go to “excellent technical colleges and elite vocational institutions”, as well as Oxford and Cambridge.

Targets are not being set for the number of extra apprentices under the new blueprint, but experience from Germany suggests 100,000 more posts could be created.

The Labour leader will contrast his proposals for technical baccalaureates with the government’s plans to replace GCSEs, accusing Education Secretary Michael Gove of having “contempt for vocational qualifications”.

Comprehensive

His mention of his own education at Haverstock comprehensive school in north London is likely to be interpreted as a comment on David Cameron’s private schooling at Eton.

“I went to my local school with people from all backgrounds,” Mr Miliband will say. “My school taught us a lot more than just how to pass exams: it taught people how to get on with each other, whoever they are and wherever they were from.

“I will always be grateful because I know I would not be standing here today as leader of the Labour Party without my comprehensive school education.”

Mr Miliband’s decision to personalise his speech follows an admission by his deputy Harriet Harman that that many voters still “do not know” him.

Although Labour is ahead of the Conservatives in the polls, he is struggling to win public approval. A ComRes survey for today’s Independent shows that just 22 per cent of people believe Mr Miliband would make a good prime minister.