Stephen Twigg MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Education, speaking to Labour Party Annual Conference 2013 in Brighton, said:

One in six children in the UK lives in poverty.

That means children going to school without a proper breakfast.

As more and more parents have to turn to food banks, the response from the Tories could not be more out of touch.

First we had David Cameron claiming food banks as a success for his flailing Big Society project.

Now we have Michael Gove blaming hard pressed families for being in poverty.

How out of touch.

David Cameron has created a cost of living crisis.

Today I will set out how Labour will help hard pressed families.

Spiralling childcare costs are adding huge pressures to family budgets.

Last year, nursery costs rose six times faster than wages, making work unaffordable for many parents.

For school-age children, David Cameron scrapped Labour’s programme to support before and after-school clubs, leaving many parents struggling to juggle work and family life.

If we want an economy that works for working people, we must support parents trying to balance these pressures.

We can be proud of our record on childcare: 

• Universal entitlement for 3 and 4 year olds; 

• Tax credits to support more mums into employment; 

• And Sure Start, one of Labour’s greatest achievements. Today we reaffirm our commitment to Sure Start.

Let us now build on the foundations that we put in place.

Affordable pre-school childcare.

Early years education when it matters.

Supporting parents to make work pay.

And we need school-age childcare that gives parents the support that allows them to work.

That is why I am announcing that the next Labour government will legislate to deliver a Primary Childcare Guarantee.

Before and after school childcare for all primary pupils.

For parents of primary school children the certainty that they can access childcare from 8am-6pm through their school.

Wherever we are campaigning - from Reading to Redditch to Redcar - a One Nation solution to an every day problem.

A clear message to hard working parents: Labour is on your side.

Parents are worried about the chronic shortages of primary school places.

• Class sizes of more than 30 infants - doubled in the last year; 

• Children in primary schools with more than 800 pupils - trebled since 2010.

This from David Cameron who promised smaller schools and smaller class sizes.

From a Government wasting millions creating new schools where they are not needed during a national shortage in primary places.

Wrong choices, wrong priorities.

Michael Gove says let unqualified teachers into our classrooms.

Not on my watch.

I say, let’s have a high status, high morale teaching profession.

I say thank you to the teachers, support staff, school leaders and governors who work so hard to raise education standards.

Our mission in politics is clear.

To place power, wealth and opportunity in the hands of the many, not the few.

Education is the best means by which all can realise their aspirations and reach their true potential.

There is no greater cause for Labour than education.

It is the great engine of social mobility.

Yet we have a Tory Government putting the privileged few ahead of hard working people.

Three years in and what have we seen?

• Sheer complacency towards the one million young people not in education, employment or training;

• No plan from the Tories for the ‘Forgotten 50 per cent’ - for those young people who want to further their aspirations through vocational education;

• And policies that will make it less likely for working class children to go to our best universities.

Wrong choices, wrong priorities.

Nothing to overcome the low skill, low wage economy.

No plan for a One Nation Britain.

Our education system needs radical change. Change to match the great reforms of the past.

It was Gladstone’s 1870 Education Act that gave birth to universal primary education.

Almost a century later, it was Harold Wilson’s Government that paved the way for the raising of the school leaving age to 16.

In 2015 the education participation age will rise to 18. Introduced by Labour.

It is revealing that we have heard so little from this Government about this huge change. For the Tories, it’s clearly not a priority.

We have seen thousands more young people dropping out of education, employment and training this year compared to 2010.

We need action to end the low skill, low wage economy so we have a country where everyone plays their part.

That’s why last year in Manchester, Ed Miliband set the agenda with Labour’s plan for the Forgotten 50 per cent.

A Gold Standard Technical Baccalaureate- high esteem vocational qualifications at 18.

And Maths and English for all to 18.

Since then, we have taken forward this work. We will

• Ensure that firms securing government contracts take on new apprentices;

• Introduce higher standards for teachers in Further Education colleges;

• Support primary schools to deliver work experience tasters, promoting a culture of work from a young age.

In addition, Labour will introduce accredited work experience placements by 18, with a work placement being conditional to achieving the Technical Baccalaureate.

Businesses tell us it is exposure to the workplace that makes young people ‘work ready’. Labour will take action to give everyone experience of the workplace by the time they are 18.

And we know that the Government’s changes to careers advice are damaging.

So we will give a rocket boost to independent careers guidance in schools, by ensuring Ofsted place greater emphasis on careers advice during inspections.

And it’s not an either or between the Forgotten 50 per cent and university.

Of course, getting more working class children into our top universities will be a priority.

It is a disgrace that our best universities have become more socially exclusive. The Tories decision to scrap AS Levels will make this worse. It’s not just me saying that. It’s Cambridge University.

If this change to AS Levels goes ahead, we will reverse it.

Our vision of One Nation is one of high aspiration for all.

One in which every young person at 18 can go into higher education or into a high quality apprenticeship.

Think about that.

A truly radical, transformative vision. A place at university or in a proper apprenticeship for everyone.

Of course, getting there will be a huge challenge.

None more so than in facing up to the fiscal reality we will inherit.

But fiscal restraint does not mean losing sight of our long term vision.

Big ideas change our nation. That’s what gave rise to universal access to state education in the 19th century. It is the big ideas that have made Britain great.

It’s what will end the low skill, low wage economy that holds our country back.

The Tories will tell us that we shouldn’t aim high for all.

That’s what makes them conservative. Out for the privileged few.

Wrong choices, wrong priorities.

But as the progressives of British politics, we reject their defeatism.

One Nation is about high aspiration.

On childcare.

On the Forgotten 50 per cent.

On Higher Education.

Opening up power, wealth and opportunity.

Recognising the talents of all of our young people.

Creating an education system that delivers on our mission.