Andy Burnham: “I do not want to blame people for being on benefits but I promise to get really serious about reducing the welfare bill.”

Politics has become too suffocating. We need greater ambition. The country is not where it should be and nothing simple gets us out of that. We need to show a journey and a longer-term plan.

My message to young people is this - whether you choose construction, coding or classics, or maths, manufacturing or mechanics, you'll get the skills you need and be given the respect you deserve.

If the UK wants to build global companies, we need to be globally competitive. To do that, we cannot have Britain's start-ups simply sell up.

In a fundamental change to the education system, we will introduce new technical education pathways from 14 – prestigious routes that will give students the chance to combine the core academic subjects with the skills, technical knowledge…