Construction union UCATT have condemned the Conservatives for hypocrisy after the party claimed they wanted to encourage apprentices to go on and study at university.

The proposal was made by David Willetts Conservatives shadow Universities spokesperson, in a speech at their conference.

Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of UCATT, said: "Yet again it has been proven that the Conservatives really have no shame. Successive Conservative Governments nearly destroyed the apprenticeship system during the 1980's and 1990's. They had total disdain in investing in skills for the future. To now claim that apprenticeships are the way forward is the grossest of hypocrisy and should be taken with a large spoonful of salt."

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In July UCATT produced academic research 'Apprenticeships - A Firm Foundation', which found that the laissez faire approach to training championed by the Conservatives had failed. Despite the construction industry have seen a boom for 10 years, apprenticeship training had declined and was in danger of collapse.

UCATT have been campaigning for all public sector contracts to be let only to companies who train apprentices, a proposal that John Denham the Skills Secretary has endorsed.

Mr Ritchie, added: "Thousands of school leavers are desperate to learn a trade and a skill for life but simply can't find a placement. If the Conservatives were serious about apprentices they would be proposing how they plan to tackle the severe skills shortages, which exist in industries such as construction, which require thousands of new recruits. Instead they only can think of gimmicks which affect a few hundred apprentices at best."

(CD/JM)