Westminster Life: Fighting for future opportunities
Improving opportunities and creating more apprenticeships is the reason I am in public life. It is my number one mission for Peterborough and the country. So, this has been a good week as the Government announced better support for businesses and learners, writes Peterborough MP Andrew Pakes.
In a proud working city like Peterborough, with deep agricultural and industrial roots, the old idea that university is the only path has often left people without options that really fit them or our local economy. Let’s be honest. For too long Government has looked down on apprenticeships in favour of university. We need to end that hang-up.
I hear often from residents about the need for what my mum would call a proper job. But the old rules have broken. The idea that if you work hard and play by the rules isn’t working, for too many young people today simply do not see the same chances their parents had. That is what drives my work to rebuild proper routes into decent, skilled jobs. One of the greatest shames of the last Conservative Government is that they let the number of apprenticeships drop. We need to turn that around.
So, this week’s announcement that the Government is expanding the Youth Guarantee and investing £725 million to create 50,000 more apprenticeship opportunities over the next three years is genuinely welcome news. The reforms will create 300,000 more chances to earn and learn and provide guaranteed jobs for almost 55,000 young people across the country.
This sits alongside work already under way here. Earlier this year, after extensive campaigning from myself and others, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough was chosen to be one of Labour’s Youth Guarantee Trailblazers, securing £10 million to test new ways of supporting 18–21‑year‑olds into jobs, education or training. This week the Government has announced it will also cover the full training cost of apprenticeships for eligible under‑25s at small and medium‑sized businesses, removing the 5% co‑investment and opening thousands more places while easing the burden on local employers.
New short courses in cutting‑edge areas such as engineering and digital skills will start from April 2026, alongside a fresh wave of foundation apprenticeships in sectors like hospitality and retail. These changes build on the Government’s ambition that two‑thirds of young people take part in higher‑level learning, whether academic, technical or through an apprenticeship, so that every route is respected.
There is also a bigger local picture. The Youth Guarantee and apprenticeship reforms are a big step forward, but Peterborough is still living with the legacy of years of under‑funding from the previous Conservative government, which helped drive £24.5 billion of cuts to council services nationally.
That is why, together with Council Leader Shabina Qayyum and neighbouring MP Sam Carling, I am calling for the Government’s Fair Funding Review to permanently increase funding for Peterborough, so that council budgets properly reflect our higher levels of deprivation and local need. There is at last movement in the right direction, from £20 million for a new regional swimming pool to £40 million in community‑led “Pride in Place” investment and the Youth Guarantee trailblazer. I won’t stop fighting for what is right for Peterborough, whether that is apprenticeships, jobs or funding for our council.