UK politics: Burnham announces plan for 10,000 work experience placements for young people – as it happened

Prime minister spoke to press while on visit to a Sainsbury’s supermarket in London this morning PA has reported some remarks by the prime minister on his visit to Sainsbury’s this morning, where he is announcing his work experience plan. Andy Burnham said the UK needs more employers to step up and offer work experience opportunities for young people. “This is a really positive development today,” he said. double quotation markOne of the biggest British brands out there, Sainsbury’s, coming forward and saying 10,000 placements for young people, work placements, apprenticeships. This is exactly what we need. We need a national drive to challenge youth unemployment and give more opportunities for our young people, and I would ask other businesses to do the same. We have a huge challenge – too many young people are out of work – but it can be fixed. I think we need to fix the education system, which is what I’m doing as well, giving young people technical paths alongside the academic route. But then we need employers to step forward and offer those work placements too.” That’s all from us on the UK politics blog, thanks for following along. Here are the main develo