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Opportunities for the Next Generation

I hear what the hon. Lady says, but I hope she recognises that we are paying £120 million per day on interest payments alone—not a healthy bank balance if it were mine, not that it ever would be. One of the key things we have to do is focus on what resources we have. There must be a fundamental mind shift on what we are going to do genuinely to help young people, with honesty, truthfulness, and no false hopes or expectations being created. The Opposition are saying, ““Too far, too fast””, but I would say to them, ““You did too little, too late. You took your eye off the ball locally, nationally and globally, and the disconnect between the youth and what business wants expanded.”” Let me substantiate those comments. Before I came into Parliament, I set up and ran the biggest business women's network in the north-west, with 9,000 women members. I am honorary president of WIN—Wirral Investment Network—which is for businesses in Wirral. For 10 years, I worked with school children across all platforms and all backgrounds, and wondered what their hopes and aspirations were. We believe in creating opportunities, but the question is how we are going to get there and achieve that. I spent the past three years interviewing the world's top 100 women from top backgrounds. I asked them, ““What did you manage to do and how did you manage to achieve it? What differentiated you from other people?”” In helping me with those interviews, they too wanted to help the next generation of young girls in particular.