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Education and Skills Bill

No, I have given way to the hon. Gentleman, I have quoted him enough and I should make some progress. The reality about this debate is that it has highlighted a stark difference between the parties. It is extraordinary, given everything that has been said, that the Conservatives neither moved a reasoned amendment nor are apparently prepared to vote against this legislation. What they have shown tonight is that they are simply not willing to face up to the reality of the challenge that we face as a country. The group of young people about whom we all are most concerned—those who, despite the efforts we are making, are most likely to reach 16 without the qualifications they need for the rest of their lives—are those who are most likely to end up in crime or doing low income jobs. Such people may end up thinking that trying to work the benefits system is better than trying to get a job, and they are more likely to have low aspirations for their own children. What we seek to do through the Bill, which comes on top of all the changes already being made in pre-school education, and in schools and to the schools curriculum, is to ensure that we take the right measures in order not to waste the opportunities and lives of those young people. I find a stark contrast tonight between the positive enthusiasm with which the Conservatives last week talked of how harsh they wish to be to those who find themselves on benefit for a long period of time—they positively throbbed with enthusiasm at the thought of what they would do to such people, without recognising that the young people who they are talking about are the same young people who we want to keep in education and training—and the Bill's modest, mild bit of compulsion, which is necessary to bring about a change in participation, and is what we need. Question put and agreed to. Bill accordingly read a Second Time.