Reform wants to slash UK university enrolment in half and send 50% of young people into the trades

Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been appointed as the new Reform UK spokesperson for education, skills and equalities.

Speaking at an event on Tuesday (17 February), Braverman said that a key priority in her new role will be to deprioritise university placements in favour of getting more young Brits into the trades.

“Across our schools, a quiet crisis has taken hold. Violence and disorder have eroded the authority of teachers. Too many teachers now face to face the fear of intimidation and assault in the classroom. Discipline, once the backbone of education, has been weakened in the name of progressive ideology,” she said.

“At the same time, the foundations of knowledge, literacy and numeracy have been undermined by this Labour government. Changes to offset a dumbed down curriculum are all replacing excellence with mediocrity in some classrooms.”

Braverman said that today’s children are taught to view Britain with shame rather than pride, and to focus on grievance rather than gratitude.

She added that too many young people are going to university.

“The truth is that many of our young people have been sold a lie about university, wasting three years of their lives on Mickey Mouse courses, all while we have a chronic shortage of nurses, builders, and care workers.

“The system is broken. So I tell you what we need. Instead of Tony Blair’s 50% of young people going to university, this is what we need; we need Nigel Farage’s 50% of young people going into the trades.”

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