Lucy Powell: “Too many young people face unnecessary barriers to apprenticeships, college places and training.”

The treadmill of failure of GCSE English and maths.

What most people wanted to know was not what we thought about other political parties, but what were we doing? What were we about?

They have to take some responsibility for creating … a system that has left over a million young people now not in education, training or employment. The current approach has left too many behind.

The one-size-fits-all approach simply doesn’t suit all children. For some it’s become a straitjacket. A straitjacket that has left too many being branded a failure – again and again – instead of being able to realise their potential.