Starmer sets out plan to ‘fire up’ UK skills and cut reliance on foreign labour

Sir Keir Starmer has set out a plan to “fire up” the training of more British workers as he insisted he would not be content to pull the “easy lever” of overseas labour.

The Prime Minister said young people in the UK have been “let down” by a lack of opportunity and a “fragmented and broken” skills system.

A new body, Skills England, will bring together central and local government, businesses, trade unions and training providers to identify areas for improvement, he said.

Sir Keir said the “work of change” has begun on the third week of government for Labour , adding that “we’ve taken the brakes off Britain”.

In a speech at the Farnborough International Airshow in Hampshire, the Prime Minister said: “All too often young people in our country have been let down, not given access to the right opportunities or training in their community.

“And that’s created an over-reliance in our economy on higher and higher levels of migration.”

He added that he would not criticise businesses who hire from overseas and would not “diminish the contribution that migration makes to our economy, to our public services and, of course, to our communities.”

“ Migration is part of our national story. It always has been, always will be,” the Prime Minister said.

But he added that it “cannot be right” that some people are unable to work because the UK lacks a coherent skills system.

“So, I have to say that we won’t be content just to pull the easy lever of importing skills. We’re turning the page on that,” Sir Keir said.

“We’re going to fire up the training of more UK workers.”

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has appointed former Co-Operative Group chief executive Richard Pennycook as interim chairman of Skills England, with the body expected to be established in phases over the next 12 months.

We understand the pressures of migration and why the previous government took the decisions that it did. It has led to some pressures now in relation to higher education, but it is right that we get migration down, because it's too high

Its first task will be an assessment of future skills needs, and it will later take on the functions of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education once the Skills England Bill, announced in the King’s Speech, passes Parliament.

Sir Keir said the body will work alongside the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to identify current and future gaps and make plans to tackle them.

Asked whether he would guarantee not to reverse changes to visa rules for student dependants brought in by the previous Tory government in a Q&A with media later, the PM said: “We understand the pressures of migration and why the previous government took the decisions that it did.

“It has led to some pressures now in relation to higher education, but it is right that we get migration down, because it’s too high.”

He said that the Government would seek to address migration levels through Skills England, adding: “That is not to say that no business should ever be hiring from abroad – that is not realistic, it’s not good for business and we don’t want to go down that path.

“But for too long that’s happened because we haven’t had the skills available in this country, and I’m determined to change that.”

According to the Department for Education, skills shortages doubled between 2017 and 2022, and now account for 36% of job vacancies.

The Government also sees improved training as vital to its aim of growing the economy, arguing that a third of productivity growth over the last two decades has been down to better skills.

The plan will reform the apprenticeship levy and turn it into a growth and skills levy.

Ms Phillipson said: “The skills system we inherited is fragmented and broken. Employers want to invest in their workers but for too long have been held back from accessing the training they need.”

She denied a rise in immigration could help plug skills gaps in the workforce in the short term until the new training regime is in place.

Asked whether foreign workers could fill vacancies in the meantime, she told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “No, this is about creating more opportunities for people here in our country to get the skills that they need in order to fill those skill shortages.”

A Conservative Party spokesman said: “We will wait to see Labour’s plans in full, but by allowing 50% of the Apprenticeship Levy funds to go to other non-apprenticeship training we may see the number of apprenticeships is reduced by half, leading to fewer opportunities for the next generation.

“We hope Labour will continue the good work of the Conservative government, which saw 5.8 million more apprenticeships created since 2010 alongside our education reforms which now find our children among the best readers in the Western world.”