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Labour calls for end to 'snobbery' over apprenticeships

Chuka Umunna Credit: PA

Shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna has called for an end to "snobbery" surrounding apprenticeships, which he says are viewed by some as being inferior to university degrees.

He pointed out that it is harder to become an apprentice at BAE or Rolls Royce than it is to get a place at Oxford or Cambridge.

Indeed if you actually look at the number of applications for places, for example, it is three times more difficult to get a Rolls Royce apprenticeship than a place at Oxford.

If you look at the numbers of applications for places, you are two and a half times more likely to get a place at Cambridge than you are to get a place on BAE's apprenticeship scheme.

– Chuka Umunna