Speak Out For Your Generation - Miliband and Burnham
Wednesday, 22 December, 2010 10:37
From: "Labour Party Press Office"
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Press release
Wednesday 22 December 2010
For immediate use
Speak Out For Your Generation
Ed Miliband MP, Leader of the Labour Party, and Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, today launched the Labour Party’s new “Speak Out For Your Generation” campaign to give young people in Britain a voice.
As the chaos continues for the Tory-led Government, Labour is making a Christmas invitation to young people: join the party for one penny, and we will be your voice.
Ed Miliband today said:
"Today's revelations paint a damming picture of the character and direction of this government.
"Labour has been saying for some months, this government is not in the centre-ground of British politics.
"It is one well out on the Right.
"The key economic and welfare decisions are Tory decisions.
"On child benefit, housing benefit, tuition fees, and the pace of deficit reduction.
"These are decisions of a Conservative-led government propped up by Liberal Democrat passengers.
"Passengers not in the front seat.
"Passengers who have got themselves locked in the boot."
Labour's new campaign begins with three key aims to help young people protect themselves against the Tory-led Government’s attack on aspiration:
Halt the unfair policy of scrapping EMA which helps some of the poorest young people, by holding a Parliamentary vote in the New Year;
Protect Sure Start centres in our community now under threat of closure despite promises from David Cameron and Nick Clegg to protect them;
Continue to campaign against the unnecessary and unfair tripling of tuition fees.
We will not let young people carry the burden of this Government’s broken promises and will lead campaigns in these key areas to force real change and protect the hopes of a generation.
This campaign is part of the debate about the future of social mobility, something that Ed Miliband has described as one of the three big arguments for 2011.
The launch was also attended by two of Labour’s youngest MPs - Chuka Umunna MP and Stella Creasy MP.
Speaking at the Press Conference Andy Burnham said:
"As the Tory-led Government's parties turn inwards to deal with their increasing chaos, Labour is reaching out to young people.
"It is not good enough for Cabinet ministers, who do not agree with the Government’s programme, to nod through policies that are damaging the hopes of young people.
"It is not good enough to talk tough in their constituency surgeries but keep quiet at the Cabinet table. Liberal Democrats know that their supporters did not vote for these unfair policies.
"But as we go into the Christmas period, it seems the only people safe in their jobs are Lib Dem Ministers.
"It’s clear that Cabinet ministers won’t stand up for young people. But Labour will – and that’s what this campaign is about.
"I know how hard it is today for young people to make their way in the world. But in recent weeks, the odds have been stacked against them even further.
"This Tory-led Government have launched an unprecedented attack on young people which threatens to turn the hopes of the next generation to dust.
"By trebling tuition fees, and scrapping Educational Maintenance Allowances and the Future Jobs Fund, Tory ministers are pulling up the drawbridge and kicking away the ladders.
"This is a Government out of touch with what life is like for young people who have least but want to make a success of their lives. From early years to adulthood, they are systematically putting up barriers and attacking aspiration.
"Of course tough choices are needed to get the deficit down – fair tax rises, spending scaled back, and a focus on growth. But this is about the Tory Government’s choices. Firstly, their choice to go too far and too fast on the deficit. And secondly, their clear choice that young people will bear the brunt of their cuts.
"It makes no economic sense for children to pay more than bankers. Every young person not in employment, education or training costs our economy £50,000. We all pay the price when young people have no hope of a better future.
"There can be no doubt that promises to protect Sure Start, keep EMA and scrap tuition fees – now broken – will have further damaged trust in politics.
"But there is hope. Our campaign to save school sports has shown what is possible. Hundreds of thousands of young people made their voice heard, Labour brought that voice to Parliament, and David Cameron was forced into a humiliating retreat.
"Young people should take heart from that. It shows how, contrary to popular opinion, democratic politics can make a difference.
"Today, Labour issues a Christmas invitation to young people: join us and we will be your first line of defence.
"The fight-back is underway and this new campaign, “Speak Out for Your Generation” will take it further.
"Our first priority will be to force a Parliamentary vote on the Government’s decision to scrap EMA. The Conservatives promised to keep it, but are breaking this promise without any debate or vote in Parliament. Let me quote to you what a young man who travelled all the way from the North East to be at our EMA event in parliament last week. He is training to be a painter and decorator, and he told me what EMA meant for him:
'This £30 a week is funding my dream. It might not be big dream, but it’s my dream.'
"In the New Year, we will take the fight forward with a campaign in every community to protect Sure Start centres, so all young people get the opportunities they deserve right from the start of life. John Denham will take our call for fairer University funding to every school, college and campus.
"Our Party stands for removing barriers so today I can announce that until 5th May, young people can join the Labour Party for one penny.
"I was part of a generation that joined Labour in the 1980s because I passionately believed that the postcode of the bed you are born should not determine where you end up in life.
"It’s why I’m still Labour today. I want the next generation to see Labour as I did – as the force for a fairer spread of life chances.
"That’s why I’m issuing this invitation today – we want to bring the voice of young people to our Party. Join us and we will help you fight for a better future."
Ends
Editor's notes:
New membership rate
The Labour Party has today introduced a new membership rate for young people.
Young people will be able to join the party for one penny;
Its available to people 27 years old and under;
Its available until the end of polling day on May 5th 2011;
Its available online only.
Future Jobs Fund
Before the General Election, the Labour Government had introduced the Future Jobs Fund, as part of the Young Person’s Guarantee that everyone between the ages of 18 and 24 who has been looking for work for a year would get an offer of a job, work experience, or training lasting at least 6 months.
Future Jobs Fund jobs were real jobs paid at least the minimum wage and lasting at least six months. Before the election the Labour Government had promised and announced funding for 200,000 jobs through the Future Jobs Fund.
One of the first acts of the new Coalition Government was to cancel the rollout of the Future Jobs Fund, effectively cutting over 90,000 jobs for young people and only funding those where the agreements had already been signed and delivery was underway.
"£320m from ending ineffective elements of employment programmes, including ending further rollout of temporary jobs through the Young Person’s Guarantee (the ‘Future Jobs Fund’) and removing recruitment subsidies from the ‘Six-Month Offer’."
HM Treasury press release, 24 May 2010
A recent leaked government document showed that the Department for Work and Pensions estimates that the number of young long-term unemployed will at least double by 2011-12.
“The expected spike is highlighted in a prospectus, issued by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), for companies and voluntary groups bidding to take part in the Work Programme to find jobs for the long-term unemployed. An annex to the prospectus estimates that between 140,000 and 200,000 young people aged from 18 to 24 will be registered as having been unemployed for at least nine months or more between 2011-12. This is at least a doubling of the number of young long-term unemployed. Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that in October there were 77,700 people aged 18-24 who had been unemployed for at least six months.”
The Guardian, 14 December 2010
University
The Government is cutting the university teaching grant by 80% - set against a spending review with an average cut of 11% across spending departments.
“Browne assumed the Spending Review would cut 80% of the annual teaching grant that is currently allocated to universities via the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce). This teaching funding allocation amounts to £3.5bn and Browne recommends that this should be reduced to just £700m."
Million+ Briefing: Financial implications of the Comprehensive Spending Review & Browne Review, 28 October 2010
The Higher Education Policy Institute predicts that £9,000 will become the “going rate” for fees with universities charging “all that they can.”
“HEPI's other main conclusion is that £9000 will in due course - perhaps not immediately, but it will not take long - become the going rate for fees.”
Higher Education Policy Institute, Press Release, 11 November 2010
The House of Commons Library says that middle income graduates will pay a far higher proportion of their annual earnings than the highest paid graduates.
For those students who take out a fee loan of £7,000 per annum and a maintenance loan of £4,000 per annum:
Those whose average lifetime earnings are in the fifth and sixth deciles (£42k-£49k) will pay back nearly 85% of a whole year's gross earnings
But those whose average earnings are in the top decile (£89k) will pay back just 48% of a whole year's gross earnings
Those whose average earnings are in the bottom decile (£28k) will pay back 34% of a whole year's gross earnings.
House of Commons Library Figures, November 2010
Research by the Sutton Trust suggests that high fees level could deter students from going to university:
“Findings suggest that even the lowest level increase in the fees (+£1,775 p.a.) would have an impact on the proportion of young people likely to go into higher education. Two-thirds (68%) of young people say they are likely (very + fairly) to go onto higher education if the tuition fee goes up to £5,000 a year (compared with 80% likely prior to any discussion of tuition fees). Likelihood of continuing into higher education drops to under half (45%) if the fees increase to £7,000 a year, and to just a quarter (26%) if the amount charged is £10,000 per annum.”
Sutton Trust, Young People Omnibus 2010- http://www.suttontrust.com/research/young-people-omnibus-2010-wave-16/
The Government has also announced they will be scrapping funding for Aim Higher, a national programme set up by Labour that aims to widen participation in higher education. The programme was designed to raise the awareness, aspirations and attainment of young people through activities such as university taster sessions and summer schools.
“Speaking at a Universities UK conference in London today, David Willetts, the universities and science minister, said funding for the Aimhigher programme will cease next year. Mr Willetts said: ‘Aimhigher has assisted universities and schools to learn a lot about what works in raising the aspirations of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, but we now need to use this knowledge to make much faster progress on social mobility’.”
Times Higher Education Supplement, 25 November 2010
Post-16 Education
The Government is ending EMA, with the final deadline for applications being December 2010. They will cease all payments at the end of the academic year 2011. This means that 16-18 year olds who are halfway through their course in July 2011 will stop receiving EMA.
Over 600,000 young people receive EMA and around 90,000 of these would not be able to study without it. For the rest, EMA makes it more likely that they will complete their course and achieve their goals.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has rejected the government’s justification for scrapping EMA saying that its costs are ‘more than recouped’.
“Tonight the IFS’ Haroon Chowdry told me that: ‘The initial outlay of the EMA policy is likely to be more than recouped by the increase in productivity that we expect to result from the 16- and 17-year-olds staying on in education for longer’.”
Haroon Chowdry, IFS, Channel 4 News blog, 13 December 2010, http://blogs.channel4.com/faisal-islam-on-economics/ema-costs-more-than-recouped-says-ifs/13536
From the PM downwards commitments were given to young people before the election that EMA was safe. The Conservatives have broken their commitments to students in post-16 education.
“We are entirely in favour not only of the existence of the EMA but of the provisions in the Bill to secure an extension to it. We want to extend opportunity at every stage. We do not want to compel or coerce where we do not need to; we want to provide opportunity where it is required. That is at the heart of our approach.”
Michael Gove, Hansard, Column 669, 14 January 2008
“Ed Balls keeps saying that we are committed to scrapping the EMA. I have never said this. We won't.”
Michael Gove, Guardian Q&A, 2 March 2010
“We’ve looked at Educational Maintenance Allowances and we haven’t announced any plan to get rid of them. They do often if you go to schools and ask people what they think of them and ask young people themselves, they get quite a mixed reception actually because some people can see them as a bit divisive, but no we don’t have any plans to get rid of them.”
David Cameron, ‘Cameron Direct’, Hammersmith, 6 January 2010
Schools
The Department for Education was forced to admit last week that spending on schools will actually fall across the Spending Review period despite earlier claims by the Government that budgets would rise. Next year schools will see up to a 1.5% cash cut in budgets and Local Authorities will see up to a 2% cash cut.
“In an embarrassing admission, education officials confirmed that spending on schools in England would not rise by 0.1 per cent in real terms – a central claim in the spending review. Changes to the official inflation forecast now suggest funding will be cut.”
Financial Times, 14 December 2010
“What it will mean in reality is that a typical secondary school with a £5-6 million budget and limited numbers of FSM pupils will lose around £200-250,000, the equivalent of around five or six teachers' jobs or 10-12 support staff.”
Public Finance, 16 December 2010
With the Government admitting that spending on schools is falling, it is now clear that the pupil premium is not extra money. Nick Clegg has admitted in a letter to Andy Burnham that the Pupil Premium is not additional to a schools budget protected in real terms.
“We are protecting schools funding in the system at a flat cash per pupil, before adding the Pupil Premium.”
Nick Clegg, Letter to Andy Burnham, 30 November 2010
That means the Pupil Premium is reallocated funds from within the school budget. The CSR itself states that the Pupil Premium will “sit within” the overall schools budget. This is despite the fact that the Coalition Agreement said the Pupil Premium would be funded 'from outside the schools budget'.
“The premium will sit within a generous overall settlement for schools, with the 5 to 16s schools budget rising by 0.1 per cent in real terms each year;”
Comprehensive Spending Review, 20 October 2010, Page 7
"We will fund a significant premium for disadvantaged pupils from outside the schools budget by reductions in spending elsewhere."
The Coalition Agreement, May 2010
The overall level of capital spending reduction is 28% across all Departments, but 60% for education.
The Government announced the closure of the Building Schools for the Future scheme and the cancellation of 700 school building projects in July this year. Chaos continues as reports suggest that ‘unaffected’ schools are now being asked to make further cuts despite assurances they would go ahead.
“Hundreds of school building projects are being scrapped as England's national school redevelopment scheme is axed by the government. Education Secretary Michael Gove said 719 school revamps already signed up to the scheme would not now go ahead. A further 123 academy schemes are to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.”
BBC, 5 July 2010
“We are not cancelling any specific school projects that were cleared to go ahead by the announcements on 5 July and 6 August. I do however anticipate that we will be able to identify significant savings on individual school projects. This follows the Secretary of State’s announcement on 5 July in which, referring to ongoing BSF projects, he said that he would “continue to look at the scope for savings in all these projects”. To that end, I have asked Partnership for Schools to work with Local Authorities to examine plans on a case by case basis. Decisions will be taken after we have held full discussions on options for savings in each area.”
Letter from Lesley Longstone, Infrastructure and Funding Directorate, DfE, 29 October 2010
Early Years
Before the election both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats said they would protect Sure Start and did not want any centres to close.
Questioner: As a parent who relies heavily on Sure Start centres for the educational and social needs of my child, I would like to know whether these centres will continue to receive funding?
David Cameron: Yes, we back Sure Start. It's a disgrace that Gordon Brown has been trying to frighten people about this.
The Independent, 5 May 2010
“My party will protect existing childcare entitlements and Sure Start…”
Nick Clegg, Response to National Childbirth Trust Manifesto, May 2010, http://goo.gl/iiXcw
Sure Start is a really important programme that has made a real difference to millions of parents. Difficult decisions are going to have to be made in public spending, but Sure Start is one of the best things the last government has done and I want all these centres to stay open.
Nick Clegg, The Independent, 5 May 2010
The Coalition Government has now been forced to admit that Sure Start will only be protected in cash terms, meaning it will face a real terms cut. This is equivalent to a real terms cut of at least 9% by 2014/15, by the most conservative estimates (using inflation predictions from the Office for Budgetary Responsibility).
“The freezing of Sure Start budgets for four years will mean at least 13 per cent cuts in real terms by 2014/15. While this should be enough to keep most existing children's centres, there will be reductions.”
Sir Paul Ennals, National Children’s Bureau, Children & Young People Now website, 21 October 2010
The government have rolled Sure Start revenue funding and other grants into an Early Intervention Grant, worth nearly 11% less than the grants it is replacing:
"In 2011/12, the amount to be allocated through EIG is 10.9% lower than the aggregated 2010/11 funding through the predecessor grants.”
Michael Gove, BBC News website, 14 December 2010
The Early Intervention Grant will not be ringfenced, meaning that local authorities will be able to spend the money on their own priorities. This is happening at a time when Local authorities are facing core funding cuts of 28% over the Spending Review period.
At the same time, the Government plans to remove the requirement for Children’s Centres in the most deprived communities to offer eight hours of childcare on week days and is removing the requirement to employ at least one person with Qualified Teacher and Early Years Professional Status.
These changes will significantly affect the availability of good quality childcare in the poorest areas, reducing the ability of parents - and especially single mothers - to find employment.
For more information, please contact the Labour Party press office on
020 7783 1393.
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