THE next Labour Government will reduce tuition fees to £6,000. We believe asking young people to pay nearly £30,000 for their degree is simply too much.

University is not for everyone so we will invest in apprenticeships which lead to respected technical qualifications and ensure all young people study English and maths to 18, so they have the skills employers require.

Labour will also support families who have been hit hard by cuts to childcare tax credit and changes to child benefit. The previous Labour Government introduced free 15 hours’ nursery education for all three and four-year-olds. We will increase that entitlement to 25 hours per week.

Over the last decade teaching has become a popular career choice. However, increasing numbers of teachers are leaving the profession. Labour will support teachers by investing in professional development; insisting all teachers are qualified; ending the Free School programme which has wasted millions of pounds; and stop endless changes to the curriculum. Ministers shouldn’t decide which books students read. Labour will ensure that all schools are locally accountable with new local Directors of School Standards responsible for supporting schools that are underperforming. My priorities will be to: l Support children’s centres such as HOPE in Bromyard that provide vital family support.

l Improve literacy: Herefordshire is in the bottom 25% of local councils for the proportion of young children from low-income families achieving expected standards of literacy.

l Call for a Select Committee Enquiry into education for mature students: there has been a big drop in adults going to university.

l Look at how we can encourage more girls to study science and engineering: last year nearly half of all state schools did not enter a single girl for A-level physics