Sir Keir Starmer has answered Rishi Sunak¡¯s attack on the last Labour government¡¯s target for higher education expansion in England by accusing the prime minister of seeking a ¡°levelling down of working-class aspiration to go to university¡±.

In his speech to the Labour conference in Liverpool, the party leader took on the prime minister after the latter set his sights on Tony Blair¡¯s 1999 pledge to ensure 50 per cent of young people gained a higher education qualification.

Mr Sunak?said in his speech?to the Conservative conference that ¡°the Labour government pursued the false dream of 50?per cent of children going to university and abandoned apprenticeships¡±, which he called ¡°one of the great mistakes of the last 30?years¡±.

Sir Keir said: ¡°I never thought I would hear a modern Conservative prime minister say that 50 per cent of our children going to university was a false dream.¡±

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He then referred to his father, who worked as a toolmaker.

¡°My dad felt the disrespect of vocational skills all his life,¡± said Sir Keir. ¡°But the solution is not and never will be the levelling down of working-class aspiration to go to university.¡±

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Sir Keir also included in his list of the last Labour government¡¯s achievements a reference to ¡°more students than ever¡±.

The Labour leader also committed to the creation of technical excellence colleges, which the party said in an??would feature ¡°improved links to local universities¡±.

Sir Keir said these colleges would be linked to regional economies and ¡°planted firmly in the ground of young people¡¯s aspirations¡±, giving the example of training ¡°lab workers in Derbyshire, automotive workers in Wolverhampton, computer scientists in Manchester¡±.

john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com