Badenoch to pledge doubling of apprenticeship budget and cut in degree numbers

Kemi Badenoch will close the Conservative Party conference with a promise to double the apprenticeship budget, paid for by slashing student numbers by 100,000.

The Tory leader will pledge to reintroduce caps on student numbers in every subject area, based on course quality and earnings prospects for graduates and aimed at shutting down “rip-off courses”.

At the same time, she will promise to double the apprenticeship budget from £3 billion to £6 billion.

The Conservatives pointed to a finding from the Institute for Fiscal Studies that around 30% of students saw a negative return from their degree, with their lifetime earnings increasing by less than the cost of going to university.

Mrs Badenoch will say: “Every year thousands of young people go off to university, but leave with crippling loans and no real prospects.

“Nearly one in three graduates see no economic return, and every year taxpayers are writing off over £7 billion in unpaid student loans.

“Wasted money, wasted talent, a rigged system propping up low-quality courses, while people can’t get high-quality apprenticeships that lead to real jobs.”

Mrs Badenoch is expected to lean on her personal experience as an apprentice, saying it “gave me self-confidence in a way my university degrees never did”.

She will add: “And unlike my subsequent university degree, I wasn’t still paying off my debts in my early 30s.

“So we will shut down these rip-off courses and use the money to double the apprenticeship budget.

“Giving thousands more young people the chance of a proper start in life.”

Student number caps were fully lifted in England in 2015, leading to a record number of students being accepted onto university courses that year.

By reintroducing and gradually lowering the caps, the Conservatives hope to limit loan repayment losses through a reduction in the number of people going to university.

The party said the policy would see 100,000 fewer people per year going to university by the end of the next parliament, saving £3 billion – enough to fund a doubling of the apprenticeship budget.

The announcement comes a week after Sir Keir Starmer used a speech at his own party conference to pledge an increase in apprenticeship numbers.

The Prime Minister said he would scrap the target of seeing 50% of young people go to university set by Sir Tony Blair, replacing it with an aim of two-thirds of young people doing either a degree or an apprenticeship.

A Labour spokesperson said the Conservatives’ plan “isn’t worth the paper it’s written on”.

“Under the Tories, apprenticeship starts and completions collapsed, and instead of supporting universities, they waged divisive culture wars – treating students as political pawns rather than investing in education for public good,” they said.

Published: 08/10/2025 by Radio NewsHub