Michael Gove has slashed funding for young people who need help to stay on in education. This is yet another chaotic announcement from the Education Secretary. From school building to school sport and Bookstart it's the same old story - no consultation, botched decisions and no grip on the detail. Now with talk of yet another legal challenge to one of his decisions, he looks set to announce funding that doesn't go far enough to support these teenagers who want to continue learning.
We also need to know where this money has come from - will we see further cuts to other parts of the education budget to pay for this? If it is additional money from the Treasury then why on earth wasn’t it in last week’s Budget?
Young people are bearing the brunt of this shambolic Government. At a time when they should be looking ahead to exams, they are worrying about whether they will have the financial support they need to stay in education – it’s a betrayal of young people and will lead to more of them dropping out. With youth unemployment at nearly one million, this Government should have kept their promise to retain EMA instead of risking a lost generation of young people.
Burnham For Mayor
