Labour should bring back £30 a week scrapped EMA cash, Keir Starmer told

LABOUR should bring back the £30 a week EMA cash for teens scrapped under the Tories, a party-commissioned review says today.

Ex-Education Secretary David Blunkett piles pressure on Sir Keir to give kids extra cash to get them to stay in school or college.

The Education Maintenance Allowance – which he brought in in 1999 – was abandoned after ministers said it was a waste of cash which didn’t work.

Jeremy Corbyn brought back the policy when he was in charge, but it was dropped under the new Labour boss.

And a new quango should decide what kids learn in school rather than leaving it to meddling politicians to decide, he will say today.

Digital skills like artificial intelligence and robots must be learned at school in a bid to get kids ready for the real world and fill the record number of vacancies, he says.

Party insiders said they were looking “very closely” at Mr Blunkett’s proposals – two of which have already been made official policy.

Sir Keir has promised to rip up the Apprenticeship Levy and vowed free breakfast clubs for every primary school child in England.

Lord Blunkett’s new skills review, commissioned by the Labour chief, calls for a major childcare shake up and to rip up the current careers service.

His 24 new recommendations will go to the Party’s Policy Forum over the winter to be thrashed out.

And Shadow Education Chief, Bridget Philipson will shortly jet off to Estonia to find out more about how their childcare system works in a bid to shape their new policies.

Lord Blunkett said last night: “What the report spells out today is nothing short of a revolution in meeting the skills needs of the nation.

“It addresses the immediate pressures of the moment, but it also offers a social democratic solution to the challenges of the future, including the rapidly increasing impact of artificial intelligence and robotics, re-equipping the nation for the economy of tomorrow.

“If adopted by an incoming Labour government, this could transform Britain’s competitiveness, productivity, and therefore the chance of sustainable growth.”

A Labour source added: “The Council of Skills Advisors, chaired by Lord Blunkett, was commissioned by Keir to deliver a report on skills policy to the Labour party but not for the Labour party.

“The Skills Report is an important document that will shape discussions about our future skills agenda in the months ahead.

“Economic growth must be driven by the contributions of working people, not through failed trickle-down economics favoured by the Conservatives.

“We’ll be setting out our full position in our manifesto.”