But he wants the funding levy for apprenticeships to be better targeted at young people and the disadvantaged.

And he called for a big increase in degree apprenticeships in universities.

Mr Halfon said there needed to be "skills, skills, skills" as much as "education, education, education".

With the government expected to announce a major investment in skills and training to recover from the pandemic, Mr Halfon called for apprenticeships to be made the cornerstone.

In a speech to the Edge vocational education charity, he called for a "recasting of our skills priorities to place apprenticeships front and centre - to create a new apprenticeship culture as the lifeblood of training and employment".

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