Apprenticeships. I love them. We’ve developed hundreds and hundreds through our companies, giving youngsters the skills they need to build a rewarding and sustainable career. We’ve sold an entire generation a foul lie, that if you don’t go to university, you’ve somehow failed - it is total bloody guff. For most young people, university has become a route to nowhere. You leave home, rack up £50,000 of debt, and get handed a degree that means very little in the real world. Then you move back in with your parents and start applying for the same jobs you could’ve done at 18. Yes, you’ve got pissed in some small city for three years. You can do that whilst training to be a plumber too, just without the debt and the pointless coursework. If you’re not sure what you want to do with your life, do NOT go to university. Learn a skill. The country doesn’t need more graduates. It needs electricians, builders, plumbers and the rest. Of course for some, university is the right path, but that does not reflect the sheer volume of students currently going to university. We need drastically fewer universities, and drastically fewer university students. We’ve built a system that’s forgotten how to make or fix anything. For most, higher education is just to delay starting adult life. It’s good for universities, good for administrators - not so good for the kids paying the bill for the rest of their lives. The debt is eye-watering. Most will never pay it off, and only shave down the interest payment every month. It’s just another tax, one which will eat into your earnings forever. Entirely unnecessary. To what, pay for a few nights out in your early 20s? Is that worth a lifetime of debt? I think not. Apprenticeships build confidence, discipline and real-world ability. You learn a trade, earn while you learn, and by your early twenties you’re already years ahead of your peers at university. No debt. Just skills, which will last you forever. Work for someone for a while, develop your skills, then look to start your own business. If you dedicate yourself, the demand will always be there. AI won't replace you, not for several decades at least... Work on your time. Run your own business. Be your own boss. Make something. Build something. Do something. If that sounds appealing, have a serious think about an apprenticeship. I would argue we need to be giving kids the opportunity to learn and develop trades even earlier in school. Why not? Let’s make it as easy as possible for boys and girls not so good with the textbooks to build their skills through a different avenue. Britain should be proud to make, fix and build again. That means valuing tradesmen and women every bit as much as graduates, more I would argue. Let’s start building an economy that actually does something. My advice to youngsters reading this? Apprenticeships. Consider it.

Reeves, Starmer, Rayner, Reynolds - all creatures of the public sector. Never run a business, couldn’t run a business. I just get so frustrated. They do not understand the pressure of it - I wouldn’t trust any of them with a lemonade stand. So when they throw all of these extra taxes on small business owners, they simply do not understand what they are doing. Extra national insurance for employers? Oh, that’ll be fine. Reducing the threshold? Not a problem, employers can pay. Crack down on dividends? Who cares, that’s one for the owners. It’s so easy to say when you’ve got a comfortable salary, funded by the taxpayer. Politicians and their bureaucrats fear nothing. Civil servants never get sacked, they’re there for life. Running a business in 2025 Britain is bloody difficult. Really, really bloody difficult. I talk to people every day who are struggling. The stress of it is quite something. Constantly checking your emails, all weekend and on holiday. The spouse is annoyed because you can’t switch off. It is constant. The stress never ends. There’s no safety net, there’s no back up. Either you succeed, or fail. There is so much regulation and red tape - you can’t even sack anyone. So what do business owners do? They don’t hire anyone. Why take the risk? It’s just not worth it. So Government then cracks down with IR35, making it impossible for many to take on these contracts. It is brutal. It is relentless. Worst of all? It all comes from people who DO NOT understand what they are doing. I sit there in Westminster, listening to these gnomes drone on about the economy. You’d get more business sense out of a blindfolded toddler. At least they understand incentives. I find it all just so frustrating, I can’t even tell you. The answer is to radically slash tax - corporation, income, dividends. Take a Milei chainsaw to regulation. Be brutal. Tear it all down. A red tape bonfire visible from space. To the brave men and women who run their own business, you have my full respect. Keep going. It will get better. Please know that there is at least one MP on your side.