AT-A-GLANCE
• Unemployment
Shadow work and pensions secretary Theresa May fleshed out well-trailed plans for welfare reform, outlining a scheme that will give personalised help to young people who have been unemployed for over six months.
Under Labour’s existing New Deal scheme, a young jobless person must have been out-of-work for 12 months before they are given this kind of support.
• Skills academies
The Tories also outlined plans to create a new network of technical schools that will be supported by businesses and industry experts. Currently, there are plans for three of these so-called “skills academies”: a service industry academy supported by Travelodge and Tesco, an IT academy supported by Microsoft and a young entrepreneurs academy supported by the Bright Ideas Trust.
• Apprenticeships
Shadow business, innovation and skill secretary David Willetts unveiled plans to create 300,000 new apprenticeship and training place in the first two years of a Tory government, which would be funded by scrapping the government’s “ineffective Train to Gain budgets”. He also announced 10,000 extra fully-funded university places, and an extension of the Young Apprenticeship scheme from 10,000 to 30,000 places.
• Surprise Cameron speech
Tory leader David Cameron gave an impromptu speech, warning delegates to avoid navel-gazing and telling them to “go out and win” the election. He said he would “not let Britain down”.