John Denham MP, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, speech to the 2008 Labour Party Conference.

- check against delivery -


That's why I've got the best job in the government. Because there's nothing more extraordinary than seeing just what people can achieve if we give them half a chance.

Last year, I said I wanted every young person with the ability and desire to become an apprentice.

Do you know, in July, 35,000 more people started an apprenticeship than in July last year.

That's what Labour's for. No one should feel our country doesn't give them the chance to make the most of wha t they can do.

No one should feel their ambitions are unfairly blocked.

And no one has a deeper belief in the talents of the British People, or has done more to set it free, than our Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

When we first got elected, if you went to university, this country rightly invested in you. But if you went straight to work you got nothing.

I've always believed that everyone should get the same support over their lifetime to education and training.

Because of decisions we've been able to take this year, I'm the first minister who's ever been able to say to a Labour conference, and to every parent: if your child goes to work and wants training; if your child goes to college, or if your child wants to do an apprenticeship, their fees will be paid until they are qualified or they are 25.

And I'll tell you something else that's changed under this Labour government. Ten years ago, too many of our kids thought university wasn't for them.

In 2008, in every part of the country, in every social group, more than half of all our young people say: "I want to go to university."

So when we say we want half of young people to go to university, all we're saying is: "we share your dreams". We want to make it possible.

Any of our universities can be the best university for the right student.

Just yesterday, nine of the most selective universities told me they want to find new ways of guaranteeing bright young people the chance to show what they can achieve, regardless of the school they come from.

When David Cameron says the government shouldn't, "set some target", he is being honest about what he believes. Like too many Tories. They think the trouble with higher education is that too many other people's children go to university these days.

You can't just say you want these things, you've got to mean it. We've got some ministers who really mean it.

Bill Rammell, Higher Education Minister, the first in his family to go to university.

Ian Pearson, Science Minister, the first in his family to go to university.

David Lammy, Skills Minister, first in his family to go to university.

You see the thing is, for us, in the Labour party, this isn't about other people's children.

This is us; this is you; this is all our children. That's why we do it.

It's not just young people who need these chances. Learning is for life.

Every one of you knows someone who just didn't get on at school. They're adults now. They've got children of their own.

The reason we support union learning reps who encourage hundreds of thousands of people to take up new courses;

The reason we are bringing in a new legal right for 22 million employees to ask for time to train;

The reason why we're investing so much in giving people the chance to learn at work;

Is because we believe they've still got the right to make the most of themselves.

Is because people who do can get paid more; get promoted. They carry on learning.

And because when we meet a mother or a father's ambitions, their children will aim higher too.

And because the country's prosperity depends on it.

And what did the Tories tell us this summer? That they are going to cut one billion pounds a year from people learning at work.

That's one million people every year who will lose the chance to get on; to earn more.

And those same Tories will give just 3,000 families one billion pounds a year in inheritance tax cuts.

And then they try to tell us about fairness.

That's the big choice.

A party that helps people get on
And the Tories who don't think that's their job.

A party that knows it's the job of government to help people fulfill their ambitions
And the Tories who say "get there on your own or not at all".

And as Gordon said yesterday, we di d fix the roof when the sun was shining. We fixed it the only way you can in the stormy weather of the modern world.

We fixed the roof with people with skills. We fixed the roof with bigger and better universities and colleges. We fixed the roof by investing in science that leads the world.

Do you think we'd be stronger today if we hadn't done all that?

Do you think we'd be stronger if we hadn't helped two and a quarter million adults to learn to read in the last five years?

Do you think we'd be stronger if we hadn't helped over 7 million people to get vocational qualifications in the last five years?


Do you think we'd be stronger if we hadn't helped 1.5 million people get university degrees in the last five years?

Do you think we'd be stronger if we didn't do all this, and had tax cuts to benefit the rich?

The choices we made mean that Britain can come through the worst the world economy can throw at us.

But whe n we're faced with events like these, we have to use every power of government to make our society stronger, fairer and more secure.

It is our duty to make sure every taxpayer's pound works as hard for the country as they first worked to earn it.

So when we build a great FE college, let's not just build a building. Let's make sure we train the people who build the building. And let's look at every government contract to see where we can get training and apprenticeships.

So let's make sure that the buying power of every government department buys the new products that are made by the new companies, that use the new science, that tackle the challenges of our time.

And if we do this, we will make our country stronger still, we'll grow our businesses, and as our other great minister, Delyth Morgan, has shown, we'll create a million new green manufacturing and service jobs.

And we do all this because of our fundamental belief: that we've all got more chance of achieving what we want for ourselves and our families in our society in which we look out for each other.

The Tories can try to steal our language, but they will never share our values.

And that's why we must win.

And that's why we will win.