Three young people start work in Westminster for the first time today. Breon Finch,
Alice Hannam and Rachel Shackleton are the first apprentices at the Parliamentary Academy, a cross-party initiative to break open access to the
nation’s seat of power for young people who can’t afford to do a lengthy unpaid internship.
So hats off to Andrea Leadsom, Conservative MP for South Northamptonshire; Mike Crockart, Lib Dem member for Edinburgh West and Conservative Campaign Headquarters, who have shown the imagination to take on staff who don’t come from the usual tiny talent pool of white middle class graduates. John Woodcock, Labour MP for Barrow-in-Furness, will shortly be recruiting and after the initial pilot the scheme will launch in full by Spring of next year.
The Parliamentary Academy was the brainchild of Tory MP Robert Halfon, but it is a cross-party initiative with the full support of Ed Miliband’s office as well as CCHQ.
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