Yvette Cooper MP: Give our young people their future back

Under the Conservatives school budgets have been squeezed and the school curriculum has become far too narrow so teenagers who are better at technical skills, or sport or music, don’t get the chances they need.

The government’s “Levelling Up” programme has proved to be a complete con. Rishi Sunak’s Richmond constituency has been given £19m by Conservative ministers. But our bid for similar funding for new investment in Knottingley has been repeatedly turned down. It’s a disgrace and it’s the same story right across the country with young people losing out most. We need a fairer deal for our towns and a proper plan to build a better future for our young people.

Yvette Cooper MP writes: For a start, Tory regeneration policies have been chaotic, costly and haven’t worked. Councils across the country, whose budgets have already been heavily cut, have had to spend tens of thousands of pounds drawing up detailed bids, only to be told that money has been wasted because ministers have changed the rules and are giving the money to richer areas instead. Rishi Sunak boasted that he wanted to shift funding away from “deprived urban areas” and give it to Tory constituencies. It was pure politics rather than a serious way to run a government and is deeply unfair for our towns.

At the heart of our bid for new funding for Knottingley was a plan for new sports and leisure facilities in town, which are still desperately needed. That is why I am urging Sport England – the national sports funding body which is responsible for encouraging community sports – to make Knottingley a priority area, and to give us a share of their £190m community fund. We need everyone working together – including Sport England, Wakefield Council, local schools and community groups – to get that badly needed new investment in place.

But we also need proper government support for young people. Under the Conservatives school budgets have been squeezed and the school curriculum has become far too narrow so teenagers who are better at technical skills, or sport or music, don’t get the chances they need. Youth services have disappeared, mental health waiting lists have soared, apprenticeships have been cut and we’ve missed out here in the Five Towns on the new skilled jobs our young people need.

Our teenagers and our towns deserve a better deal. That’s why I’m backing Labour’s plans for more teachers, a wider school curriculum including sports, the arts and technical education, and new Technical Excellence Colleges to develop the skills future workers need. I also believe we need more support out of school – including youth activities, hubs and community mental health services, a bit like a teenage version of the Sure Start programme we used to have under the last Labour government for the under-5s.

Most of all, we need the quality skilled jobs here in West Yorkshire that would boost our towns and our young people’s future. Newly re-elected Mayor Tracy Brabin has a plan for 1,000 new well-paid skilled jobs for young people. That’s the kind of thing we need – instead of the Tories’ bidding war which means towns like ours lose out, we need a proper economic regeneration plan with a government that backs our Yorkshire Mayors and decisions made here in Yorkshire. That is the best way to give our young people their future back.