Made it to the front page of Liberal Democrat News with Nick Clegg and other Leadership Programme colleagues!

Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg has today announced the participants in the Liberal Democrat Leadership Programme. The Leadership Programme is designed to support future Parliamentary candidates from under-represented backgrounds through training, mentoring, shadowing opportunities and more.

More than two-thirds of participants are female and a third are from BME backgrounds. Furthermore, a significant number of participants are disabled, openly LGBT, under 30 years old and/or from a lower socio-economic background.

Commenting, Nick Clegg said

“The Leadership Programme is now ready to start changing the face of the Liberal Democrats. For too long, our party in Westminster has been too male and too pale.

“If we want to represent all of the country then we must have all of the country represented in us. That is why the Leadership Programme has sought out talented Liberal Democrats from across the country to ensure that over the coming years we will together change the makeup of the party.

“I know this excellent Leadership Programme will support them as they seek selection for a seat all the way until they sit in the House of Commons. I am proud to have met them all this weekend and I know we will be hearing a lot more from them in the months and years to come.”

http://www.libdems.org.uk/latest_news_detail.aspx?title=Nick_Clegg_announces_Leadership_Programme_participants&pPK=348b83f7-299c-426c-be48-c851c0c5eec9

Cllr Jane Brophy with cabinet minister Chris Huhne MP (the Energy and Climate Change Secretary) at the North West Liberal Democrat Annual Gala Dinner Saturday 9th July 2011, Haydock Park.

"Getting young people into work" published in the Sale & Altrincham Advertiser 14th December

The Liberal Democrats in Government are making sure that every young person has a fair chance. Last week the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg launched the Youth Contract. This is a one billion pound programme to get every unemployed young person earning or learning again.

The Youth Contract will create over 400,000 new jobs and 250,000 new work experience placements to help young people across Britain to get into work. There will be 20,000 more incentive payments to encourage employers to take on young apprentices and 250,000 new work experience placements. And because we know businesses are struggling to take young people on, the Youth Contract ...will pay half their basic wage for six months.

We are taking real action to tackle youth unemployment. Every young person who wants it will be guaranteed a job, training or work placement. If people are out of work when they’re young they can bear the scars for decades. If they have a false start, they might not ever fully catch up. This £1 billion investment will make sure our young people are earning and learning again, before long-term damage is done.

Here in Trafford there are 1,400 or 8.6% of all 18-24 year olds in our Borough currently claiming Job Seeker's Allowance. We cannot afford to lose the skills and talent of these young people – right when we need them most. Across the North West there are 26,000 16 and 17-year olds not in education, employment or training.

Lib Dems are determined to tackle youth unemployment - an issue that has been ignored for too long. We need the next generation to help us build a new economy. Young people have been hit particularly hard in the recession, but even in the boom years, Labour failed to tackle the issue. During Labour’s 13 years in power, youth unemployment rose by nearly 40%. There was a shocking 86% increase in the number of 18-24 year olds claiming Job Seekers Allowance.

Across the UK, youth unemployment has risen to 21.9%. We owe it to our young people to make sure that even in tough economic times, we will do everything we can to find them a job, training or education.

Article published in the Sale & Altrincham Advertiser 23rd November 2011

Last week Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Liberal Democrat children’s minister Sarah Teather published proposals to give 140,000 disadvantaged toddlers 15 hours’ free early years education. As from September 2013, the government will increase the number of places from the current 20,000 places per year.

Here in Trafford we gain 300 extra places. This is a key Liberal Democrat policy delivered by the Coalition Government. It builds upon our achievement of extending free childcare to 15 hours a week for all three- and four-year-olds.

Giving children a fair start in life is at the heart of what we, as Liberal Democrats, believe in. Our constitution states: “…we champion the freedom, dignity and well-being of individuals, we acknowledge and respect their right to freedom of conscience and their right to develop their talents to the full. We aim to disperse power, to foster diversity and to nurture creativity. We believe that the role of the state is to enable all citizens to attain these ideals…” The earlier we help children the bigger difference we can make to their lives.

It is our priority to increase social mobility by helping children from the poorest backgrounds in their earliest years. High quality early education is the key to making a difference early on in a child’s life. It’s crucial for their healthy development and means they’re not falling behind before they have even started primary school. The changes benefit all children including those from more advantaged backgrounds who can gain from the fact that their peers are not falling behind.

Lib Dems also want to make the entitlement more flexible, so that children don’t miss out on early education and parents can help balance their work and family life more easily. The Department is consulting on how to improve the way in which local authorities tell parents how they are ensuring sufficient childcare places are available in the local area. The overly bureaucratic childcare sufficiency assessment that local authorities must currently do every three years would be replaced by a straightforward annual report to parents.