Keir Starmer delivers speech at McLaren HQ after Lando Norris' first F1 win

Thank you very much. Thank you, Pat. Thank you very much, Pat. Can I start by thanking you, Jay, for introducing us, and Juliet, who's just behind me, for showing us around some of the other apprentices that we saw this morning. And there is no substitute for coming to see you here and what you do. You can't get a briefing and understand what you do here. And just spending time with you this morning, looking at the production line, looking at the skill, a commitment that goes into each and every one of those bespoke cars that comes out of here is incredible to see. And I find it really uplifting. You, I hope, must find it uplifting to work here and to be part of what is going on here, because this is high-grade, high-skilled, fantastic work. And you have to see it, really, to appreciate it. So thank you for showing it to us this morning. It's amazing to be here the day after Lanzo won yesterday. And I hope you've all got a smile on your faces, because that interview with him afterwards, which I hope you've all seen, quite emotional, well, very emotional interview with him after he had won. But I thought the way in which he wanted to thank the whole of his team was really important, because he was emphasising that he's the person, obviously, doing the racing, but that can't happen without the whole McLaren team at every level, working with him and for him. And I hope you felt a bit of pride, therefore, in what he's achieved, because everything that you all do, all the teamwork that you put in, is all part of what produces that incredible result. And it was a really incredible result. So fantastic to be here today. Pat has told you a bit about the apprenticeships, but the reason we wanted to speak to apprentices in particular this morning is because I'm on a mission, so far as apprentices are concerned. My dad was an apprentice, he went to night school. He was a toolmaker, a skilled toolmaker, and so he did it in his day, apprenticeships were done, or the school bit of it was done during night school, so that's what he did, apprentices worked his way up. I went to university, and I've always thought that we don't value the two equally, and we should. University is a good thing to do, I'm not going to knock it, that's what I did. But being an apprentice is an equally good thing to do, that's what my dad did, and he was a highly skilled engineer and toolmaker. And I don't feel that we always make the case for equal respect for both routes. And whenever I see apprentices and apprenticeships, I understand just how complicated, how skilled they are, and what you've been... I mean, Juliet, you've been painting, I think, six o'clock this morning. When you see the quality that's going into those cars, that is every bit as difficult and complicated as doing a degree at university any day of the week. So I'm on a mission to make sure that both are equally valued, not one above the other. And we did have in place in this country for quite a long time a target that 50% of our young people get to university. I've taken that target down and put a new target up, which is two-thirds of our young people go either to university or to a good apprenticeship. So we really are putting them on an equal footing. And as Pat said, then today, on top of that, and to really tilt it more towards apprenticeships, we're announcing 50,000 extra apprenticeships through funding that we're putting in and investment that we're putting in as of today. Because the number of apprenticeships has gone down recently. We want to bring it back up, particularly for young people, because I think it's so valuable and so important. So thank you for allowing us to be here to make this announcement. I want all of you, by the way, if you get time, to go back to your schools or colleges, but schools in particular, if you have the opportunity, just to talk to 14-, 15-, 16-year-olds about what you do here. Because a lot of young people wouldn't necessarily know what it means to work in a place like this. And I bet you, if they heard from you or saw a bit of what you're doing here, they'd want to come here and work or in similar jobs. So if you could do that. The other thing is, even to be an apprentice these days is a success in its own right. Because my boy is 17½, so we're going through the Izzet University apprenticeship, and I'm beginning to appreciate firsthand just how hard it is to find the right apprenticeship and to get on to being an apprentice. So it's a huge success, even to be standing here, starting or halfway through or whatever it is through the apprenticeship that you're doing. So congratulations to all of you. Thank you for showing us round. It is so good to be out and about and seeing what's going on here. Incredibly still, I feel a real privilege to have spent a bit of time having a look at what you're doing. Thank you so much. And now Pat and I are going to take any questions that you've got for us. So we're going to have just a bit of time for some questions. Anybody got a question? Yes, we'll start here. But anybody can ask a question on anything. If you've got anything you want to ask us, then put your hand up and we'll take your question and get on with it. Over to you. My name is Niamh. I'm a manufacturing graduate. My question is, a lot of people still see apprenticeships as something solely for trades. How does the government plan on changing that perspective? Not solely for trades. I think Pat, I might be saying, there's 700 different subjects or areas in which you can do an apprenticeship, so a very, very wide range of skills. I think what we're very keen to do is to highlight those skilled ones which are almost the most important for our economy and put special emphasis in there. So I think we can do that, which will help. I think tilting and talking about apprenticeships makes a big difference as well. We have to keep talking about apprenticeships. And talking and showing, I think if people see what you do here, they would realise, you don't have to spend long on the production line to realise this is highly skilled, highly complicated, very difficult work. Every bit as difficult as going to university or sitting and doing a law degree or something like that, which is what I do. But wherever you go, it's the same. I was up in the Clyde where they're building frigates. And some of the electrical skills the apprentices had there were quite incredible, as it will be in any one of these cars that you are working on here. So you've just got to keep talking about that element of it and make sure it's not just seen as limited in any way. Thank you very much. Anybody else got a question? Hi, I'm Mark. I'm a paint technician apprentice. My question to you is, why should a young person choose to do an apprenticeship rather than go to university? So many reasons. Good skill learning from the get-go. A route into a job, because the chances of going for an apprenticeship into a job are much higher than going to university and then coming into a job. And of course, going to university these days carries quite a big loan normally with it. So people coming out of university carrying quite a bit of debt starting their working lives. Whereas if you work for an apprenticeship, obviously, you're earning as you're learning. So I would say it's every bit as good as the two, and I would be equally encouraging of either route for people. But to go straight in, start skilled working, learning, and in a work environment, which is different to university. It's a grown-up, serious environment. If you're in a place like this, you've got to be part of a team. You've got to be professional. You've got to be part of a team in the sense you've got responsibility. You can't not do your bit of the job. And the painting. I mean, you were painting this morning as well, weren't you? But just learning, as I did around, that it's not just that each car is bespoke and therefore there's no standard in it. But also, as I understand it, the particular way in which the paint has to go on has to be... I mean, it's so skilled in terms of what you're doing. So I would say to people it's a very, very good thing to do. What made you do it rather than college? Yeah, you did go to university, didn't you, for a bit, and you decided that's not for me. You need to tell that story. You really do, because I genuinely think too many young people think it's got to be university. And that's just wrong. And you and other people telling the story is a really good way of doing it. Other questions, anyone? Let me go. I'll come to both of you. Hello, I'm Serene, another paint technician apprentice. My question to you is, how can you ensure that apprenticeships are seen as equal compared to other academic routes, like university or college? Yeah, so this is the core thing, as to how do you make sure that apprenticeships are seen as equal. First and foremost, we have to keep on making the argument, because I think it's been tilted over the years, because for a long time, it was a big, big deal to get to university. I was the first in my family to go to university, so that was a big deal for my whole family, and therefore got talked about. And that's good, and that's a nice thing, but it does put you on a pedestal a bit, and it sends a message to the rest of the family that Keir's gone to university, query what's everybody else doing. So we need to turn that and say, yes, it's a good thing to do, but apprenticeship is an equally good thing to do. And I think putting it on a pedestal, the way to do that is to get people in to see what you're doing. Did you always know that you wanted to do this? Right. So same thing. I think there's so many people who feel, I want to get on with a job with my hands and applying my skills. Is that generally how most people feel about this? Rather than sitting, as would probably be the case at college, rote learning. So did you come out of college, therefore, into an apprenticeship as well? What would you say to, I don't know, a 15 or 16-year-old boy or girl at school now who would be going through probably what you were going through at that age? I would say probably take the opportunity to look at what's around and what you can actually do in apprenticeships because it's so much more fun and exciting because you're actually getting in there, you're getting hands-on, you're becoming part of a team. You're not just sitting there writing, taking notes. It's a lot more interesting. I would say that. Definitely. Definitely get that message through to young people. Anybody else with a question? I won't forget you, Jay. Morning, Prime Minister. I do the procurement grad scheme. I'm just wondering if the scheme extends to internships and grad schemes for people who have gone the university route or is there a separate plan in place for that? You're the procurement? Yes. So are you doing the procurement side? No, at the moment, I'm doing supplier risk. So speaking to suppliers, seeing if everything's going okay, if we've got something that's flacked as a risk, whether they're doing okay. Do you come in as a graduate to do that? Yes, I went to university. I did an internship in my third year and then applied for grad schemes after university. Was it the internship that then gave you the idea of wanting to work? Yes, so I did it in the automotive industry and then I think the saying is it's hard to get into the industry but it's even harder to get out. So I came back and got really lucky to get onto this. I can imagine that anybody who comes here to look around probably leaves thinking, I'd like to have a job here. And anybody who's done an internship here would want to do that as well. And your question is whether we're still supporting those routes. Will it extend to internships and grad schemes or is there something separate in place? Yeah, we're not taking away anything on the internships. So part of the Youth Guarantee announcement that we made yesterday is for work experience programmes to get people into the habit of working to learn about the workplace. So the apprenticeships is a slightly different thing. That's a more structured thing. But we will, through the Youth Guarantee, have support for work experience. The thing that unites all of these things is we don't want young people with nothing to do, with nothing constructive to do. So there's a variety of options here. An apprenticeship, work experience. And for people who remain unemployed after going through some of these things, for some people will ultimately have a subsidised job for six months at the end of that as well. All of this, what we've announced yesterday and today, is all about giving people options, giving people opportunities. We've heard in the discussion there's different routes for people. We want them all to be rewarding and to work. I think I saw one hand here. And then, Jay, I won't forget that you wanted to come in. Good morning. So I am a manufacturing grad here. So my question to you is, how do you see an apprenticeship programme would actually shape one's career in the future, in the long term, how do you see it? This is a really good question. I don't know what the proportion is here. But in most places where we've been to talk to apprentices, we've asked the question of the management board how many of the senior management started off as apprentices. And in most of the places, it's usually at least 50%. And that's a really good news story because that is telling the story that if you start as an apprentice, you can work your way up through the business, through the company and get to the highest levels of management. If that's what you want to do. It won't be what everybody wants to do. Now, I don't know what the stats are here, but I wouldn't be surprised because most of the places that run good apprenticeship schemes also value the workforce that has the people who've done their apprenticeships and then they go on to leadership positions. We need to crack this in politics, by the way, because around the cabinet table, we did a little survey a few weeks ago. And I think pretty well everyone around the cabinet table had been to university, but no one had been an apprentice. And so I think the challenge is more in politics and some of our other institutions. I think business actually has a good case to tell on apprenticeships going all the way to the top. I think it's the rest of us that need to do some catching up because those skills of being in a business and working your way up and running a business would be really good skills to have higher up in politics, in my view. Now, I'm saying that without knowing the number here, but I'd be very surprised if there's not a good career opportunity here. There is in most places that value their apprenticeships. And Jay, over to you, sorry. I'm Jay and I'm a degree apprentice. Question for me was, how do apprenticeships contribute to the UK economy and help businesses grow? Well, massive contribution because every business needs to bring in the next generation of skills. Apprenticeships are the way to do that. And as you will know, as well as I do, what happens in an apprenticeship is people then begin to think, this is the bit of it I like best. It's the bit that I want to probably hone my skill in. And then hopefully, if people get taken on, they can then develop into the firm. I think it's important. This will change. I mean, your generation, probably more than most, the skills you'll need will change over the course of your lifetime, your career, probably more quickly than it has for many others. My dad, let's say, was a toolmaker. And I saw things in his business change from the old way of doing toolmaking into what was then the sparky road, where you were using electronics to cut away at metal instead of some of the old skills. Nowadays, it'd be completely different because you'd actually be firing the particles at the metal to create the thing. So I've seen the difference there, but that took quite a long time. In your careers, it'll probably move quite quickly. And you'll probably feel like you're retraining all the time with new technology. It's quite exciting. I actually think new technology and AI will make it even better for your lives because I think they will therefore require the human to be in the bits that are even more complicated, even more skilled. And so it will change the nature of your work as you go through. And so you should just imagine... Because when you see the production line here, it looks absolutely state-of-the-art and as modern as you could possibly be. It'd be like walking past the various Formula 1 cars, where as you go through all the historic cars, at each time, that felt like the cutting edge of technology, the most modern you could get. And now, as you walk past, you can see how it's changed over time, particularly aerodynamics. And in your lifetimes, in your work lifetimes, that will be changing all the time. So even the cars you're working on now, in 10 years, 15, 20 years, will seem like yesterday's cars and you'll be on something even more modern. So it's quite an exciting place to work in that respect. Look, thank you very much for your time this morning. Thank you for your questions. I did acknowledge everybody else up there. Thank you also for spending time with us this morning and good luck with everything you're doing. Celebrate the victory yesterday, but thank you for sharing a bit of time with us this morning. We really, really appreciate it. And I'm one of those people, I always take something away from visits, things that are in the back of my mind, because I think politics is about your policies and all the rest of it, but it's much more about who's in your mind eye when you're taking decisions. And so I'll take away a lot from this visit to help us shape the decisions that we make as we go forward. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you.