Youngsters in the North of England are at risk of being held back as fresh research reveals the Tories levelling up agenda has widened the north-south skills divide.
Apprenticeships in the Red Wall have dropped by a third since 2011, and fallen in all but two Northern constituencies, according to the think-tank Onward.
In the same period, wealthy parts of London including Battersea, Wimbledon, Chelsea and Fulham have seen the greatest increases in the number of people doing apprenticeships.
Also the number of entry-level apprenticeships (Level 2) has fallen by more than half (56%) in just over a decade, the think-tank revealed.
Boris Johnson vowed to offer every young person in Britain a guaranteed apprenticeship, weeks into the first lockdown.
The Prime Minister warned it was “inevitable” that there would be “many, many job losses” in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
Senior Tory MP Tom Tugenhadt told the Mirror apprenticeships are “fundamental to levelling-up and fundamental to transforming the way we look at education in the United Kingdom”.
He expressed concern that many young people’s “life chances will be affected in the lead up to the next election” if more apprenticeships aren’t offered.
Will Tanner, Director of Onward and former Deputy Head of Policy to Theresa May, said: “Apprenticeships are not delivering and without far-reaching reform will work against ministers’ ambitions to level up the country.
"Working class school leavers in poorer places need a decent alternative to university, not a system that increasingly serves existing workers in big businesses based in cities."
Onward research previously found the PM and a number of senior Tory MPs risked losing their seats at the next election if they failed to level up Britain.
The Levelling Up white paper announced a £3.8 billion investment in skills in 2024/25, a lifetime skills guarantee in England, bootcamps and a new UK-wide numeracy programme.
But the words “apprentice” and “apprenticeship” don’t appear at all in the levelling-up white paper.
Robert Halfon, chair of the Commons Education Select Committee, added: “For too long, the mantra has been “university, university, university” when it should be “skills, skills, skills”.
